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Gay ABC News reporter James Longman on Popes Francis, Leo and his own Catholic upbringing and faith

I’ve been following the work and career of Emmy-winning ABC News correspondent James Longman for a few years now and am so impressed with his storytelling and his grit. I’ve seen his reports from Ukraine and more recently, from Rome covering the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV.

James, who is openly gay, grew up Catholic and has shared some of his thoughts in a deeply-personal essay published this week on his Substack. Here are some excerpts:

When I was 8, I was sent to a Catholic boarding school in the English countryside. English Catholicism seemed to me a little quieter than what I’d experienced. But it felt right, somehow. I felt – culturally at least – that it made sense. I knew why I needed to go to mass, what to say and when to kneel. I knew what to do before and after confession. I knew the names of the important saints and I knew the Hail Mary. Monastic life – Worth was a monastery school – didn’t seem alien to me. It was all part of the Catholic tradition that just seemed like home. 

***

as I grew up, and I realized I was gay, my feelings about being Catholic grew more ambivalent. I wanted to be part of the club. I just wasn’t sure I could be. I didn’t come out until I was 24, and even though I retained a good relationship with my school, it just never felt like something I could talk about. Some of my best friends to this day are school friends, but even then, there were never conversations about being gay back then. I just kind of let people know that it wasn’t a secret anymore, and if they wanted to tell other people, they could. I hoped my friends would learn it by osmosis. In the years that followed, I’ve always considered myself culturally Catholic, if that’s a thing. I light candles for my Grandmaman whenever I’m in a church. I do the sign of the cross when I walk in. But it has never gone further than that. 

***

I found myself in Vatican City, thinking deeply for the first time about my own faith. And I felt a strange emptiness. I had not realized it at the time, but Pope Francis’ acknowledgement of gay Catholics, and the possibility that our unions might be blessed in a church, had meant a lot to me. Five simple words, “Who am I to judge,” seemed to offer me a chance again. Now he was gone, I was genuinely worried whether the door that had been opened ajar to me, would be closed once more. It was only his absence that made me realize this. 

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