Schönborn has been described as a "conciliatory pragmatist who is open to dialogue". On 1 December 2018, he allowed a controversial rock performance to take place in
St. Stephen Cathedral to raise money for HIV patients. The event was held to benefit the
Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard, a hospice in
South Africa run by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta for people dying of AIDS. The previous year, Schönborn, the Order of Malta, and
Gery Keszler's LGBT Life Ball organized a Mass to remember
World Aids Day. Conchita Wurst was invited to speak in that occasion.
Interfaith dialogue Schönborn is a member of the
Elijah Interfaith Institute Board of World Religious Leaders. In May 2017, Schönborn published an approbation in regards to the
Orthodox Rabbinic Statement on Christianity entitled
To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians which was published two years beforehand by the
Israel-based
Center for Jewish–Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC).
Islam and Catholicism In 2006, Schönborn published an article on the relationship between Catholicism and Islam, noting that both are missionary religions and interfaith dialogue is often seen as an alternative to the missionary impulse. He advised that dialogue focus on "How is mission situated in respect of freedom of conscience and of religion? How is it situated in respect of the requirements of a plural world?", while addressing "openly the dangers of intolerance, of attacks on religious freedom". When news outlets reported in 2016 that he had warned of "an Islamic conquest of Europe", Schönborn pointed out that he had asked the question "Will there be an Islamic conquest of Europe?" in a sermon that identified Europe with the
prodigal son in Luke's gospel who has squandered his inheritance. He argued that if Islam stood to gain it was because "We ourselves are therefore those that have brought the Christian inheritance of Europe into peril." He objected to any reading of his words as an attack on refugees. He wrote: "Europe's Christian legacy is in danger, because we Europeans have squandered it. That has absolutely nothing to do with Islam nor with the refugees. It is clear that many Islamists would like to take advantage of our weakness, but they are not responsible for it. We are."
Same-sex relationships In a September 2015 interview, he said that the Church's ministers should recognise what is good where it is found. For example, he said, a civil marriage is better than simply living together, because it signifies a couple has made a formal, public commitment to one another. "Instead of talking about everything that is missing, we can draw close to this reality, noting what is positive in this love that is establishing itself." Schönborn described a gay friend of his who, after many temporary relationships, is now in a stable relationship. "It's an improvement. They share a life, they share their joys and sufferings, they help one another. It must be recognised that this person took an important step for his own good and the good of others, even though it certainly is not a situation the Church can consider 'regular'." The Church's negative "judgment about homosexual acts is necessary, but the Church should not look in the bedroom first, but in the dining room! It must accompany people." He said that pastoral accompaniment "cannot transform an irregular situation into a regular one, but there do exist paths for healing, for learning", for moving gradually closer to a situation in compliance with Church teaching. In 2021, Schönborn said he cannot deny same-sex couples a blessing if they request one and that he was "not happy" with the Vatican's mid-March statement on same-sex unions. In September 2024, when asked about
Fiducia supplicans Schönborn said he believed the document showed "confusion on the part of the Church."
HIV/AIDS and condoms In 1996, Schönborn told an Austrian television audience that someone suffering from AIDS might use a condom as a "lesser evil", but he quickly cautioned, "no one could affirm that the use of a condom is the ideal in sexual relations".
Tridentine Mass In 2024, when asked about the 2021 motu proprio
Traditionis custodes that placed restrictions on use of the
Tridentine Mass, Schönborn said that he hoped that the "new generation" might "easily" move from the 'TLM to modern movements and "prayer groups" such as the
Emmanuel Community, adding "Let us accept that Francis has his reasons for closing the doors again, at least partially, just as we have accepted that
Benedict XVI had his reasons for opening them. Let us trust that the Lord is leading the Church."
Evolution and the Catholic Church In an opinion piece that appeared in
The New York Times on 7 July 2005, Schönborn accepted the possibility of
evolution but criticised certain
"neo-Darwinian" theories as incompatible with Catholic teaching: The director of the
Vatican Observatory,
George Coyne, SJ, criticized Schönborn's view and pointed to
Pope John Paul II's declaration that "evolution is no longer a mere hypothesis" and Catholic physicist
Stephen Barr wrote a critique which evoked several replies, including a lengthy one from Schönborn.
Gay pastoral council member In April 2012, the election of a young gay man, who was living in a registered same-sex partnership, to a
pastoral council in Vienna was vetoed by the
parish priest. After meeting with the couple, Schönborn reinstated him. He later advised in a homily that priests must apply a pastoral approach that is "neither rigorist nor lax" in counselling Catholics who "don't live according to [God's] master plan".
Reform of clerical celibacy On 14 April 2019, Schönborn expressed openness to the possibility of married men being ordained to the priesthood (something which already occurs in the
Eastern Catholic Churches and the
Anglican ordinariate), while maintaining
clerical celibacy as normative. ==Health and retirement plans==