Pope Leo appoints pro-LGBT Australian archbishop to Dicastery for Evangelisation

Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne, Victoria, who is known for his support for LGBT Catholics and ecumenical dialogue, was appointed to the position on June 27th by Pope Leo, along with Archbishop Filippo Iannone O Carm and Archbishop Èric de Moulins-Beaufort.

by Kathy Clubb

Archbishop Comensoli will join the Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelisation in the World; another area of the Dicastery deals with First Evangelisation and New Particular Churches. The Dicastery for Evangelisation is presided over directly by the Roman pontiff.

The role of the dicastery, according to its constitution:

‘serves the work of evangelisation, so that Christ, the light of the nations, may be known and witnessed to by word and deed, and the Church, his mystical Body, may be built up.’

One problem becomes immediately obvious: Peter Comensoli has little idea of what constitutes the Catholic Church. For him and those who surround him, “Church” is a loosely-defined conglomeration of Christians and others deemed to be of good will.

Ecumenism

For example, Archbishop Comensoli often meets to pray with leaders of other religions – not only Christians. This post from his now-deleted X-account is an example of his fervour for ecumenism:

This evening, the three Abrahamic faiths came together at St Kilda Shule to acknowledge our shared believe in the one God, and to acknowledge our shared believe that all people are made in the image of God. May the Word of God bring to us all to a life of faith, hope and love. — Archbishop Peter A Comensoli, July 20, 2022

More recently, in 2025, Archbishop Comensoli rejected claims that a provocative show of strength by Moslems outside Melbourne’s Cathedral should be viewed in a negative light. Echoing the error of religious liberty found in Dignitatis Humanae, ¹ he said,

‘Like all Victorians, the Islamic community is entitled to exercise freedom of religion. As Catholics, we expect nothing less.’

In June of this year, Archbishop Comensoli joined the Anglican “Archbishop” of Melbourne for a “prayer walk”. Their talk was posted to the Anglican’s Instagram account where Comensoli jokingly referred to himself as the “alternate” Archbishop.

Pagan rituals

Archbishop Comensoli’s tolerance for non-Catholic religions is most extravagant when it comes to indigenous Australians. His schools include Aboriginal-centred curriculum across most subjects and the indigenous affairs department in his chancery is very active.

This is little different from most dioceses across Australia, unfortunately, where pagan rituals such as smoking ceremonies have become commonplace. These rituals are usually conducted prior to Mass and outside the church building itself, however, in what is perhaps the most egregious abuse to have taken place in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Archbishop Comensoli once permitted an indigenous smoking ceremony inside the Melbourne Cathedral during Mass.

(The live-streamed Mass can be viewed here with the pertinent section beginning at 3 mins 37 s.)

Support for gays – without conversion

As well as his unbridled support for religious liberty, Archbishop Comensoli has a history of showing support for those with same-sex attraction who reject the Church’s requirement that they remain chaste.

In 2019, he invited 80 homosexuals to a ‘listening session’ in Melbourne prior to Australia’s Plenary Council.² At the time, the Archdiocese’s director of communications, said:

“This was an opportunity for LGBTI people to speak of their hopes and fears, their griefs and joys in the life of the Church in Australia. I think it was a really positive experience for all who attended.”

In 2024, Archbishop Comensoli offered Mass for “Acceptance Melbourne” – a group of unrepentant homosexuals who want to continue to practice their Catholic faith. The occasion was the group’s 50th anniversary; the group regularly posts to its Facebook page using tags such as #gaycatholics and #lgbtcatholics.

The corruption of morals that has escalated under Archbishop Comensoli does not end with adult Catholics. Most Catholic schools in the Archdiocese have introduced a ‘sex-ed’ programme called Respectful Relationships – a Catholicised version of the perverted Safe Schools programme which was developed by a pedophile. Other schools, including the most prestigious, offer secular programmes which corrupt young students with their explicit and immoral content.

Several year ago, a Catholic boys’ school in the Archdiocese scandalously allowed one of its male teachers to continue teaching after he began to identify as a woman. Students at Melbourne’s Mazenod College returned from holidays to find that their male RE teacher was now self-identifying as a female. Both staff and students and staff were then forced to address the teacher by his new name and preferred pronouns. Complaints to the Archdiocese by concerned Catholics went unanswered.

Going easy on abortion advocates

That was not the only immoral appointment made by Archbishop Comensoli, however. In 2021 he appointed a former Marie Stopes employee as part of his Child Safeguarding department.

Loretta Hoban held two very high positions within the chancery even though her previous work included running a campaign for abortion provider Marie Stopes in Cambodia. The campaign targeted factory workers in Phnom Penh, supplying them with information about ‘family planning’ and sexual and reproductive health.

Equally scandalous was another incident from 2021: Archbishop Comensoli presided over a Mass at which the rabidly pro-abortion Catholic Premier of Victoria was given Holy Communion.

The occasion was a State Funeral offered for celebrity Bert Newton at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; the notorious Premier Daniel Andrews received Communion from Cathedral Dean, Fr Werner Utri.

Personnel is Policy

Unsurprisingly, Archbishop Comensoli has already issued a statement endorsing the Holy See’s excommunication decree while also offering a place in his Archdiocese to those wishing to defect from the SSPX – an SSPX parish is located within the Archdiocese of Melbourne and another is located in an adjoining diocese.

It would seem that tolerance for error and promotion of immoral behaviour, rather than excluding men from positions of influence in the Curia, has become a pre-requisite.

Let us continue to pray for the Church.

Kathy Clubb is an Australian writer. She has written on Catholic and pro-life issues at The Remnant Newspaper, LifeSiteNews, Fidelity magazine, Family Life International, Endeavour Forum and more. Kathy is the founder and editor of Pax Orbis.

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