VATICAN CITY (AP) — More than a thousand LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families gathered in Rome on Saturday for a Holy Year pilgrimage, marking a new phase of acceptance within the Catholic Church, which they attribute to the leadership of Pope Francis.

Many participants were moved to tears as they entered the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, a key event for Holy Year pilgrims. They described the experience as significant and perhaps even historic for both their community and the wider church.

“It was like reaching out and touching the divine,” said Justin del Rosario, who carried a wooden crucifix across the sacred threshold alongside fellow pilgrims from the United States, including his husband.

Multiple LGBTQ+ organizations took part in the pilgrimage, which featured on the Vatican’s official Holy Year event calendar. While Vatican officials clarified that its presence on the calendar was not an endorsement, it served as a practical tool for organization.

The pilgrimage was primarily organized by the Italian LGBTQ+ group “Jonathan’s Tent,” with participation from other organizations such as a trans women’s group from southern Rome, the U.S.-based DignityUSA and Outreach, along with the Brazilian National Network of LGBT+ Catholic Groups.

“I remember being here 25 years ago during the previous Holy Year, where a group of LGBTQ individuals from the U.S.—including me—were actually held as a potential threat to the event,” recalled Marianne Duddy Burke of DignityUSA.

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,” 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, “Who am I to judge?” about a purportedly gay priest, to his decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.

He never changed church teaching saying homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” 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 2023 interview with The Associated Press, declared that “being homosexual is not a crime.”

John Capozzi of Washington D.C., who was participating in the pilgrimage with his husband, del Rosario, said Francis’ 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.

“There was that feeling like I wasn’t welcome in the church,” he said. “Not because I was doing anything, just because I was who I was,” he said. “It was this fear of going back in because of the judgment.”

But Francis, who insisted that the Catholic Church was open to everyone, “todos, todos, todos,” changed all that, he said.

“I was a closeted Catholic,” Capozzi said. “With Pope Francis, I 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.”

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.

“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,” Focosi said. “Today, however, there are other tears, new tears. They wash away the old ones.”

“And so today these tears are tears of hope,” 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.

“The Jubilee was the time to free the oppressed and restore dignity to those who had been denied it,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, I say this with emotion: It is time to restore dignity to everyone, especially to those who have been denied it.”

Leo’s position comes into focus

Leo’s position on LGBTQ+ Catholics had been something of a question. 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 “homosexual lifestyle” and the role of mass media in promoting acceptance of same-sex relationships.

He later acknowledged Francis’ call for a more inclusive church, saying Francis “made it very clear that he doesn’t want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices that they make, whether it be lifestyle, work, way to dress, or whatever.”

Leo met Monday with the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who has advocated for greater welcome for LGBTQ+ Catholics. Martin emerged saying Leo told him he intended to continue Pope Francis’ policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.

“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,” 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’s husband, said he now felt welcome after long staying away from the faith he was raised in.

“Pope Francis influenced me to return back to church. Pope Leo only strengthened my faith,” he said.

___

Associated Press journalists Isaia Montelione and Maria Selene Clemente contributed to this report.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.