Fr. James Martin praises Pope Leo for celebrating Mass with altar girls

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Fr. James Martin praises Pope Leo for celebrating Mass with altar girls
Martin’s claim that it is un-controversial to have female altar servers is contradicted by many arguments,

 including irrefutable theological principles and practical considerations.



Pope Leo XIV leaving the event at the Waterfront Mass on December 2, 2025, in Beirut, Lebanon
Photo by Adri Salido/Getty Images

Feb 16, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Dissident Jesuit priest James Martin has praised Pope Leo XIV for including two female altar servers at a Mass he celebrated at a parish in Rome this past weekend.

“The use of female altar servers has proven controversial in some US dioceses, and among some bishops, but, apparently, not in the Diocese of Rome or for its bishop,” Martin said on social media Monday.

Martin’s remarks come amid what seems to be a rather grueling media tour promoting his new autobiography, Work in Progress. In recent days, Martin has appeared on Good Morning America and left-wing talk show host Stephen Colbert’s late-night program to boost book sales. He told Colbert that Leo is continuing Francis’ pro-LGBT agenda.

Martin’s claim that it is un-controversial to have female altar servers is contradicted by many arguments, including irrefutable theological principles as well as practical considerations that take into account the differences between boys and girls and the preparation of young boys for seminary.

The role of altar servers has historically been reserved for men and boys in the life of the Church, with several popes expressly forbidding women from serving at the altar. Fifth-century Pope Gelasius (492-496) condemned “the evil practice” of “women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass.” Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) reiterated this in his 1755 encyclical Allatae Sunt.

In a 2024 letter written by Sri Lankan Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjit, His Eminence declared that “no girls should be invited to serve at the altar” because that role “is one of the main sources of vocations to the priesthood in Sri Lanka and it will affect the number of candidates entering the seminaries, which risk we cannot take.”

Despite the Church’s longstanding teachings and tradition of denying women the role of altar boy, John Paul II permitted female altar servers in the 1990s. The Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts backed the move in a controversial decision.

Lectors, as well as acolytes, were historically minor orders reserved for men alone as they serve as stepping stones to the priesthood. Bishop Athanasius Schneider noted this in his 2023 book Credo when he said that ministers of the Church represent Christ, and because of this their ministries are to be carried out by ordained men or by their substitutes, male lectors or altar boys.

The cracking open of the door to female altar servers arguably took place under Paul VI when in his 1972 motu proprio Ministeria Quaedam he allowed the roles of lector and acolyte to be “lay ministries,” which eventually led to women stepping into the roles. Pope Francis went further in his 2021 motu proprio Spiritus Domini, which modified canon law to allow women to be officially installed as acolytes and lectors.

Bishop Schneider told LifeSite co-founder John-Henry Westen during a recent interview that allowing women to serve as lectors and altar servers introduces feminism into the “core” of the Roman liturgy, as it is a key step toward the ordination of female “priests.” His Excellency noted that this is exactly what happened in the Anglican Church, whose archbishop of Canterbury is now a woman who supports abortion and homosexual “marriage.”

Left-wing Catholic influencers who agree with Martin’s specious reasoning were quick to pounce on conservative critics of Leo. Former Democratic congressional candidate Chris Hale posted several images on his X account of female altar servers being included in liturgies offered by John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Regardless, the theological principles and millennia-old teaching of the Church are irrefutable. Conservative and traditional Catholics on social media drew additional attention to how Leo’s liturgy was banal and uninspiring.

“Terrible music, ritual detached from tradition, and nonsensical things like female altar boys. Nobody finds this particularly profound,” former Disney child actor turned Catholic commentator Murray Rounds said in an X post.

A Spanish priest cleverly responded to Martin by noting that “the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass has proven controversial in some US dioceses, and among some bishops, but, apparently, not in the Diocese of Rome or for its bishop” — a reference to a Latin Mass offered by Cardinal Raymond Burke in St. Peter’s last year.

Traditional priest Fr. Nicolás E. Despósito urged Catholics not to be shocked by the news but rather to recall that “the real problem isn’t girls at the altar; it’s the apostasy at the top: Salvation outside the Church, blessings for sodomites, ‘God wills all religions,’ and communion for adulterers.”

Pope Leo’s Sunday Mass at Santa Maria Regina Pacis in the coastline neighborhood of Ostia was the first time he offered Mass at a parish church in Rome. At least one of the female servers was wearing Adidas sneakers.