Voices from the LGBTQ+ Jubilee Year Pilgrimage, Part 1

There have been a number of news accounts about the LGBTQ+ Pilgrimage of Hope for the Holy Year over the last few days.  Since many of the articles repeat similar information, this post will offer tidbits of what was distinct in each article, mainly the thoughts and reflections of individual pilgrims.  Tomorrow, another post will contain additional voices.

from The National Catholic Reporter 

(for full article: click here)

Jesuit Fr. James Martin, founder of Outreach: “Every other group seemed to have a jubilee. During the conclave, there was a jubilee for marching bands. . . .So if marching bands can have a jubilee, why not LGBTQ Catholics? They’re certainly as much a part of the church.”

Francis DeBernardo (photos by Justin McClellan, National Catholic Reporter)

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry: “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. . . .  The fact that [Leo] has not clamped down on this pilgrimage, which I think previous popes might have done, is really a sign of great welcome. . . .

“What Pope Francis did is that he taught church leaders how to welcome LGBTQ people, and he set a good example for that welcoming. . . .But he also taught LGBTQ people to stand up and be proud and to take ownership of the church which is rightfully theirs, and I think what we’re seeing now in this pilgrimage is LGBTQ people claiming their rightful place in the church.”

Ruby Almeida, board member of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, originally from India, now living in the UK: “Maybe 25 years ago, the challenges and pushbacks were real for many people who came here as LGBT. . . .Now it’s almost the flip. We’re being told: ‘Come in, you’re welcome, please join us, you are at the table with us.’ “

Victoria Rodriguez, a transgender Catholic woman and mother of three from Spain, trecalling a moment of prayer eight years ago when she encountered the parable of the talents: “God was telling me that he had given me the talent of my identity and I had buried it out of fear. He was saying: ‘Don’t bury it, live it. I will protect you.’ “

“We don’t have to choose. We can live our sexuality and our spirituality. God made us this way, and God loves us this way.”

Ana Flavia Chávez

Ana Flavia Chávez Pedraza, a Peruvian transgender Catholic woman who coordinates pastoral outreach to transgender women in Arequipa, Peru, expressing hope that Leo will follow  Francis’ example by meeting personally with transgender Catholics:

“The meeting with Fr. James Martin showed continuity. . . .But there cannot be a pastor without the sheep. We hope the Holy Father will meet us too. . . .If we are not listened to, if we do not have those synodal moments of encounter, then we will not even be the last, not even on the margins, but outside of the church.”

Nancy Bouchier

Nancy Bouchier, a retired historian from Canada: “Synodality is everything: It’s this notion of community that we’re working with, of getting the LGBT community together. There is nothing more joyous than to be in community. I thank God that I lived this long to witness this.”

from The Associated Press

(for full article, click here)

Justin del Rosario, from the United States, who carried a big wooden crucifix across the threshold of the Holy Door with his husband, John Capozzi: “It just felt epic, like I was able to touch the hand of God.”

Justin del Rosario and John Capozzi at a pilgrimage event. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director, DignityUSA: “I 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. . .  . [Now ,to be] 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.”

John Capozzi of Washington D.C., who was participating in the pilgrimage with his husband, del Rosario; Capozzi was alienated from the Church, but felt welcomed by Pope Francis:

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

Rev. Fausto Focosi, from Italy:  “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.”

—Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, September 9, 2025