LGBTQ+ Catholics make the holy Hajj to Rome, admitting the new feeling of acceptance

favorable LGBTQ+ Catholics Their families participated in the pilgrimage in the holy year to Rome on Saturday, where they celebrated a new level of acceptance in the Catholic Church after a long feeling of gathering and Pope Francis with change.

The Vice President of the Italian Bishops Conference, Bishop Francesco Savino, celebrated the Mass for pilgrims in Chisa del Jiso, the main Jesuit Church in Rome. He received a continuous applause in the midst of his sermon when he remembers that the jubilee celebrations historically aim to restore hope for those margins.

“The jubilee was the time to liberate the oppressed and restore dignity to those who were denied,” he said. “Brothers and Sisters, I say this with emotion: It is time to restore dignity for everyone, especially for those who have been denied.”

Several LGBTQ+ groups participated in the Hajj, which was narrated in the formal evaluation of the Vatican events for the Holy Year, which is the Catholic celebration in the Catholic century once. Vatican organizers confirmed that the list in the calendar did not indicate support or care.

The main organizer of the pilgrimage was LGBTQ+ for the Italian Call, “Jonathan tent”, but other groups participated, including Dignityusa and Outreach, another American group.

“I was here 25 years ago in the last holy year with a group of gay people from the United States, and we were actually detained as a threat to the Holy Year programs,” said Marian Dodi Burke of Dinitiusa.

She said now that he is invited to walk through the holy door of St. Peter’s Passilica “is fully recognized that we are the gifts that we bring to the church, and that we have our faith and identities combined, is a day of celebration and great hope.”

Study 2020 From the Williams Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles, he discovered that there are about 11.3 million adults in the United States, and about 5.3 million of them religiousIncluding about 1.3 million Catholic ROM.

Pope Leo fourteen celebrated a private audience in Jubilee on Saturday in the Vatican for all pilgrims in Rome this weekend, but he did not want a special male of the thirties of Catholics.

A legacy of accepting LGBTQ+

Many pilgrims attributed their feeling of welcoming in Francis. More than any of his predecessors, Francis himself with a welcome message. Four months after Francis became the Pope in 2013, he sparked controversy when, during a press conference in July, he answered the journalist’s question about gay clergy members, saying: “If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord and has a good will, who am I to rule?” Francis’s answer went against years of Catholic previous years.

His words Select a very different tone From the previous relationship that the Church was with gay clergy and members. His predecessors – John Paul II and Bandic 16 – was much less than gay people. In 1986, Benedict XVI was published Modern official statement Serious condemnation.

The teaching of the Church has never changed, saying that homosexual actions are “troubled in essence.” But during his 12 -year papacy from 2013 to 2025, Francis met with LGBTQ advocates, and they served a society of converting women, and in an interview in 2023 with the Associated Press, that “being gay is not a crime.”

FrancisWho died in 88 earlier this year, did not change the doctrine, but it was not conversation by expressing support for legal civil unions, and meeting in person with LGBTQ groups and extending Barakat for individuals in unions of the same sex.

John Kabuzi from Washington, DC, who was participating in the Hajj with his wife, Justin del Rosario, said Francis’s position returned to the church after he left it in the eighties, at the height of the AIDS crisis. Then he said that he felt that he was avoiding by his Catholic colleagues.

“There was this feeling as if I did not welcome the church,” he said. “Not because I was doing anything, just because I was.” “This was the fear of returning because of the ruling.”

But Francis, who insisted that the Catholic Church was open to all, “I changed Todus, Todos, Todos”, all of this.

“I was a close Catholic,” Kabuzi said. “With Pope Francis, I managed to go out and say,” Hey, as you know, I am a Catholic and I am proud of him and I want to be part of the church. “

“Tears of Hope”

Capozzi occurs during the backup service only for the room for pilgrims on Friday night at the Jesuit Church. Service has appeared from gay couples, the mother of a transient child and an influential reflection by an Italian priest, priest Fausto Focus.

“Our eyes have known tears of rejection and hiding. They knew the tears of shame. Perhaps sometimes these tears stem from our eyes,” Force said. “Today, however, there are other tears, new tears. They wash that old.”

“Today, these tears are tears of hope,” he said.

Leo’s position becomes more clear

Leo’s position on LGBTQ+ Catholics was Something from the question. Shortly after his election in May, statements appeared from 2012 when the future Pope, known as Reverend Robert Brevost, criticized the “gay lifestyle” and the role of the media in promoting acceptance of homosexuals that contradict the Catholic doctrine.

When Cardinal became in 2023, he asked Prevost’s Catholic News if his views had changed. he Acknowledged Francis invitation For a more comprehensive church, saying that Francis “made it clear that he does not want to exclude people simply on the basis of the options they make, whether it is lifestyle or work, the way to wear it or anything else.”

Leo He met Monday with Reverend James MartinThe American Jesuit, which called for a greater welcome to LGBTQ+ Catholics. Martin appeared, saying that Liu told him that he intends to continue the policy of Francis for accepting LGBTQ+ in the church and encouraged him to keep up with his call.

“I heard the same message from Pope Liu, whom I heard from Pope Francis, the desire to welcome all people, including the people of LGBTQ,” Martin told Associated Press after the audience.

Savino said that, too, he received the grace of Liu to celebrate the Mass for pilgrims LGBTQ+.

Del Rosario, Kabuzi’s husband, said he was now welcoming after moving away from the faith in which he grew up.

He said: “Pope Francis has influenced me to return to the church. Pope Liu Emmani only strengthened.”