The Vatican on Saturday, September 6 hosted over 1,000 LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families as part of the Holy Year pilgrimage, marking a historic first for individuals who often felt shunned by the Catholic Church.
Organized by Italian advocacy group Jonathan’s Tent, the first-ever pilgrimage for gay and trans people was included in the Vatican’s official calendar of events for the Jubilee Holy Year, which is held every 25 years in the Holy See.
Restoring hope and dignity
A standing room-only vigil service was conducted on Friday at Chiesa del Gesu, the main Jesuit church in Rome, during which gay couples and the mother of a trans child shared their testimonies to other pilgrims.
At the service, Italian priest Fausto Focosi said: “Our 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.”
“Today, however, there are other tears, new tears. They wash away the old ones. And so today, these tears are tears of hope.”
On Saturday morning, the pilgrims attended a Mass led by Italian Bishop Francesco Savino, the vice president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.
Savino received a sustained standing ovation halfway through his homily when he noted that the Jubilee has been historically a way to revive hope among those often overlooked.
“The Jubilee was the time to free the oppressed and restore dignity to those who had been denied it,” he said, as quoted by The Associated Press.
“Brothers and sisters, I say this with emotion: It is time to restore dignity to everyone, especially to those who have been denied it.
“We are all pilgrim people of hope and we want to leave this celebration more joyful and hopeful than ever. We have to go forward, convinced that God loves us [with] a unique and unrepeatable love … unconditional love.”
“In that awareness there is the foundation of all hope,” added Savino, according to the Catholic News Agency.
After the Mass, the group – led by a pilgrim holding a rainbow-colored crucifix – walked to the Vatican.
They then entered through the Holy Door into Saint Peter’s Basilica as part of the rite of passage for Holy Year pilgrims.
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LGBTQ+ pilgrims credit late Pope Francis for feeling welcomed in the church
The Catholic Church has always described homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered.”
However, the late Pope Francis made it his mission during his 12-year papacy to make the church more inclusive, especially for LGBTQ+ Catholics.
In his first year as pope in 2013, Francis was asked about his opinion on an allegedly gay priest, to which he replied: “Who am I to judge?”
He also made headlines in 2023 when he allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, and declared that “being homosexual is not a crime.”
Francis also regularly held meetings with LGBTQ+ advocates and ministered to a community of trans women.
Furthermore, the pilgrimage was authorized under Francis’ papacy, although Vatican organizers clarified that its inclusion into the official calendar was not a sign of endorsement or sponsorship, but rather a logistical tool for pilgrims and organizations.
And while Francis never changed the teachings of the church, the pilgrims nonetheless attributed their feeling of welcome to the late pope.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Marianne Duddy Burke – a member of US LGBTQ+ group DignityUSA – recalled when she, along with other LGBTQ+ individuals from the United States, was detained during the last Jubilee as they were perceived as “a threat to the Holy Year programs.”
Being invited to walk through the Holy Door of Saint 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,” said Burke.
Meanwhile, John Capozzi, who travelled from Washington DC to participate in the pilgrimage with his husband, said he left the church in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS crisis, as he felt shunned by the church and his fellow Catholics.
“I was a closeted Catholic,” said Capozzi.
But Francis’ inclusive attitude banished his “fear of going back [in the church] because of the judgment” until he was “able to come out and say, ‘Hey, you know, I am Catholic and I’m proud of it and I want to be part of the church’.”
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Questions remain on Pope Leo’s LGBTQ+ stance
Doubts and fears, however, remain on whether Pope Leo XIV would carry out his predecessor’s legacy, as his stance on the matter is still unclear.
These worries were exacerbated when, shortly after his election as pope, Leo’s remarks from 2012 surfaced, where he criticized the “homosexual lifestyle” and the Western media for promoting “anti-Christian lifestyle choices”, such as same-sex relationships, according to POLITICO.
However, after becoming a cardinal in 2023, Leo – then known as Robert Prevost – acknowledged that the church is looking to be more open and welcoming.
“I think Pope Francis made it very clear that he doesn’t want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices that they make,” he said in an interview with the Catholic News Service.
Despite that, he stressed that the “doctrine hasn’t changed.”
Father James Martin, an American Jesuit and LGBTQ+ advocate who met with Leo on September 1, said after their meeting, “I heard the same message from Pope Leo that I heard from Pope Francis, which is the desire to welcome all people, including LGBTQ people.”
Bishop Savino also stated that he received Leo’s blessing to hold the Mass for the LGBTQ+ pilgrims.
The pope did not make any special mention of the LGBTQ+ pilgrims when he celebrated a special Jubilee audience for all pilgrim groups on Saturday.
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