Over 1,400 Catholics donning rainbow attire and carrying crosses are taking part in the first officially recognized LGBTQ+ pilgrimage to Rome as part of the Vatican's Jubilee Year.
Coming from 20 countries, pilgrims are attending prayer vigils, masses, and other activities this weekend, although they will not have a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, who died in April, did not change the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine regarding the LGBTQ+ community but made overtures in a decree in 2023.
These changes included allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, a move that provoked backlash among conservative Catholics, particularly in Africa.
Members from the LGBTQ+ community entered St. Peter's Basilica through the Holy Door on Saturday, a procession that symbolizes reconciliation, as this door only opens once every 25 years for jubilee celebrations.
Not only are LGBTQ people marching and walking to say that they're part of the Church, but official Church institutions are welcoming them and helping them to tell their stories, remarked Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry.
Some 32 million pilgrims are expected to visit the Vatican this year for the Jubilee celebrations. Pope Leo has yet to address the LGBTQ+ community publicly or comment on the decree from Pope Francis. In 2020, Pope Francis stated, homosexual people have a right to be in a family and affirmed that they are children of God and should not be marginalized.
Three years later, the Vatican allowed blessings for same-sex and irregular couples under certain conditions, while still affirming the traditional view of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
