Rachel Maddow, Openly Gay MSNBC Anchor, Returns to the Catholic Church

Rachel Maddow, Openly Gay MSNBC Anchor, Returns to the Catholic Church After years away, Maddow says she considers herself Catholic again. She believes Pope Leo can both “soften hearts and sharpen minds” during his pontificate. Thank you for reading! Letters from Leo is a reader-supported publication. If you find value in my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-time donation. MS NOW anchor Rachel Maddow - one of America’s most prominent progressive voices - recently revealed to a live audience that, after years away, she has returned to the Catholic Church. It was an remarkable admission from a public figure who is openly gay and often seen as a secular icon. Maddow’s revelation came during a Q&A at a local event when an audience member asked for her thoughts on the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, and his stance on immigration. In her response, Maddow praised both Pope Francis and Pope Leo, framing the moment as almost providential. The Church had “just said goodbye to Pope Francis and his message of not just empathy but solidarity with immigrants the world over,” Maddow noted, and then along came Pope Leo - a Chicago-born successor who shares Francis’s passion for migrant justice. The timing was so perfect, she quipped, it was “like it was just grown in a lab to radicalize American Catholics” against cruelty to immigrants. In Maddow’s view, it’s divine intervention that after Francis’s death the cardinals chose a pope so outspoken on these issues. Pope Leo celebrates his first Mass after this election, the central act of faith that Rachel Maddow has re-embraced after years away. Her return reflects a broader trend of lapsed believers finding hope in a more compassionate Church. Maddow then shared a bit of her own faith journey. “I was born and raised in a conservative Catholic family... after having not considered myself [Catholic] for some time, I do consider myself to be back in the faith,” she told the crowd. Coming out as a lesbian in her youth, Maddow had drifted from the Church for nearly 30 years. But now, she said, Pope Leo’s witness on issues like immigration has drawn her back to her religious roots. She was deeply inspired by an outdoor Mass for immigrant detainees at the Broadview ICE facility in Illinois where hundreds of faithful in prayerful protest. Responding to Pope Leo's call, it was their second attempt in three weeks to minister to detained migrants, and once again the answer from the Trump Administration was simply “no.” Seeing the Church champion society’s vulnerable again has reignited something in her. Maddow argued that if you’re Catholic, “the pope and the actions of the Church and the bishops honestly matter” in shaping your moral outlook. And beyond just Catholics, she believes a pope “speaks to a universal conscience and to a universal heart” in a way no other leader can. “There’s something about the role of the pope that is unlike any other...

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