VATICAN CITY (AP) 鈥 Over 1,000 LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families participated in a Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome on Saturday, celebrating a new level of acceptance in the Catholic Church after long feeling shunned, and crediting Pope Francis with the change.
Some wept as they walked through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the rite of passage of Holy Year pilgrims. They said the moment felt important, historic even, in the life of the church and their community.
鈥淚t just felt epic, like I was able to touch the hand of God,鈥 said Justin del Rosario, who carried a big wooden crucifix across the threshold of the Holy Door with a group of pilgrims from the United States that included his husband.
Several LGBTQ+ groups participated in the pilgrimage, which was listed in the Vatican鈥檚 official calendar of events for the Holy Year, the once-every-quarter century celebration of Catholicism. Vatican organizers stressed that the listing in the calendar didn’t signal endorsement or sponsorship, but was a logistical tool to help organizers and pilgrims alike.
The main sponsor of the pilgrimage was an Italian LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, 鈥淛onathan鈥檚 Tent,鈥 but other groups participated, including a group of trans women from southern Rome, DignityUSA and Outreach, another U.S. group, as well as the Brazilian National Network of LGBT+ Catholic Groups.
鈥淚 was here 25 years ago at the last Holy Year with a contingent of LGBTQ people from the U.S. and we were actually detained as a threat to the Holy Year programs,” said DignityUSA’s Marianne Duddy Burke.
To now be invited to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica “fully recognized as who we are and the gifts we bring to the church, and that we have both our faith and our identities combined, is a day of great celebration and hope,鈥 she said.
Pope Leo XIV celebrated a special Jubilee audience Saturday at the Vatican for all pilgrim groups in Rome this weekend, but made no special mention of the LGBTQ+ Catholics.
A legacy of LGBTQ+ acceptance
Many of the pilgrims attributed their feeling of welcome to Francis. More than any of his predecessors, Francis distinguished himself with a message of welcome, from his 2013 quip, 鈥淲ho am I to judge?鈥 about a purportedly gay priest, to his decision to allow priests to .
He never changed church teaching saying homosexual acts are 鈥渋ntrinsically disordered.鈥 But during his 12-year papacy from 2013 to 2025, Francis met with LGBTQ+ advocates, ministered to a community of trans women and, in a declared that 鈥渂eing homosexual is not a crime.鈥
John Capozzi of Washington D.C., who was participating in the pilgrimage with his husband, del Rosario, said Francis鈥 attitude brought him back to the church after he left it in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis. Then, he said, he felt shunned by his fellow Catholics.
鈥淭here was that feeling like I wasn鈥檛 welcome in the church,鈥 he said. 鈥淣ot because I was doing anything, just because I was who I was,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t was this fear of going back in because of the judgment.鈥
But Francis, who insisted that the Catholic Church was open to everyone, 鈥渢odos, todos, todos,鈥 changed all that, he said.
鈥淚 was a closeted Catholic,鈥 Capozzi said. 鈥淲ith Pope Francis, I was able to come out and say, 鈥橦ey, you know, I am Catholic and I鈥檓 proud of it and I want to be part of the church.鈥
A message of welcome and hope
Capozzi spoke during a standing room-only vigil service for the pilgrims Friday night at the main Jesuit church in Rome. The service featured testimonies from gay couples, the mother of a trans child and a moving reflection by an Italian priest, the Rev. Fausto Focosi.
鈥淥ur eyes have known the tears of rejection, of hiding. They have known the tears of shame. And perhaps sometimes those tears still spring from our eyes,鈥 Focosi said. 鈥淭oday, however, there are other tears, new tears. They wash away the old ones.鈥
鈥淎nd so today these tears are tears of hope,鈥 he said.
On Saturday morning, Italian Bishop Franceseco Savino celebrated Mass for the pilgrims and received a sustained standing ovation in the middle of his homily when he recalled that Jubilee celebrations historically were meant to restore hope to those on the margins.
鈥淭he Jubilee was the time to free the oppressed and restore dignity to those who had been denied it,鈥 he said. 鈥淏rothers and sisters, I say this with emotion: It is time to restore dignity to everyone, especially to those who have been denied it.鈥
Leo’s position comes into focus
Leo鈥檚 position on LGBTQ+ Catholics had been . Soon after he was elected in May, remarks surfaced from 2012 in which the future pope, then known as the Rev. Robert Prevost, criticized the 鈥渉omosexual lifestyle鈥 and the role of mass media in promoting acceptance of same-sex relationships.
He later for a more inclusive church, saying Francis 鈥渕ade it very clear that he doesn鈥檛 want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices that they make, whether it be lifestyle, work, way to dress, or whatever.鈥
Leo , an American Jesuit who has advocated for greater welcome for LGBTQ+ Catholics. Martin emerged saying Leo told him he intended to continue Pope Francis鈥 policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
鈥淚 heard the same message from Pope Leo that I heard from Pope Francis, which is the desire to welcome all people, including LGBTQ people,鈥 Martin told The Associated Press after the audience.
Savino, vice president of the Italian bishops conference, said he too had received Leo’s blessing to celebrate the Mass for the LGBTQ+ pilgrims.
Del Rosario, Capozzi鈥檚 husband, said he now felt welcome after long staying away from the faith he was raised in.
鈥淧ope Francis influenced me to return back to church. Pope Leo only strengthened my faith,鈥 he said.
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Associated Press journalists Isaia Montelione and Maria Selene Clemente contributed to this report.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
