Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has been met with cautious optimism by LGBTQ groups. He stated in 2013 that, "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"He also called for the creation of civil union laws for same-sex couples in a documentary released last year.

But on Monday, Francis' stance appeared to shift when he approved a decree from the Vatican which said that Catholic priests cannot bless same-sex unions.

The Rev. Irene Monroe and the Rev. Emmett G. Price III spoke to Boston Public Radio on Monday about this latest edict from the Roman Catholic Church.

"What bothers me about this pope is he, to me, is the consummate flip-flopper, because while he will have a welcoming tone, it doesn't match up with his unwelcoming church policies that he upholds," Monroe said. "He has to understand that it's not enough to say you embrace us in words. He has to also do it in action."

Price pointed to previous examples that signaled Francis might be more open to LGBTQ inclusivity in the Catholic church. "This is really disgraceful, because he turns against his own personal beliefs and his own stated opinions in this area," he said.

Monroe said that the decree adds to the church's effort to hold back modernity.

"Clearly they didn't get the message in the scripture that 'love is love,'" she said. "If the Catholic hierarchy doesn't get anything else, they need to get this: Gay people love Jesus just as much as straight people."

Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is a professor of worship, church and culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by GBH.