Documentary Film Focuses on LGBTQ+ Pastoral Care in Italy (And One on the Pilgrimage, Too!)

“I panni stesi nella fede quotidiana” (“Clothes Hanging Out to Dry in Daily Faith”) is a new documentary by Italian director Alberto Valletta. The film, which  explores he intersection of queerness and Catholicismwill be shown in Italian with English subtitles on December 12 at 6:00 p.m. CET (12:00 p.m. EST) during a free online screening organized by the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics and La Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent). 

Bondings 2.0’s Elisa Belotti interviewed Valletta to learn more about what inspired the documentary and what it reveals about the lives of queer Catholics today.

To join the screening, you can register by sending an email to [email protected]. It will be an opportunity to reflect on welcome, compassion, and the Gospel lived today, especially through the experiences of those who are too often pushed to the margins, such as LGBTQ+ people.

Following the documentary, there will be a conversation in English with the director Alberto Valletta, joined by Sister Fabrizia Giacobbe and Andrea Bigalli, who coordinate LGBTQ+ pastoral care in Florence, Italy. Little Sisters of Jesus Chiara-Benedetta and Rita-Irene, who appear in the short film, will also be available.

Information about a separate documentary focusing on September 2025’s historic LGBTQ+ pilgrimage to the Vatican is included at the end of the post. The title is“Chiesa casa per tutti” (“Church Home for Everyone”).

Alberto Valletta

ELISA BELOTTI: What brought you to work on this documentary?

ALBERTO VALLETTA: It all began as both a personal and creative need: I wanted to understand how body, affectivity, sexuality, and relationships find a concrete, everyday space where faith is embodied today. I deeply believe that identity is a living process, a courageous journey that can lead us into a critical dialogue with our traditions.

If from our earliest years we learn only to meet other people’s expectations., we cannot truly love ourselves, nor have faith. Many of us grow up carrying the weight of judgment, and only rarely do we have the freedom to become who we really are, or even to discover who we could be.

EB: What stories and topics come to light in the documentary?

AV: Through the voices of both lay and religious people, the documentary weaves a collective reflection on Gospel-rooted love, the beauty of relationships, and the complexity of a Church that wants and  is called to be a home for all. Viewers encounter people whose journeys and vocations differ widely. For example, we meet Father Bernardo Francesco Maria Gianni, abbot of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, who says that the sky is the real ceiling of a church, and Father Andrea Bigalli, who encourages Catholics to recognize and love diversity as part of their deeper identity.

The documentary also features the Little Sisters of Jesus from Rome and Naples, who share their life of sisterhood in urban peripheries, among children, families, and people in need, places where God is revealed through daily simplicity. Another contribution comes from Father Andrea Pio Cristiani, founder of the Shalom Movement, an organization committed to peace, solidarity, and social justice. He speaks of a faith grounded in an authentic desire to love.

Dominican Sister Fabrizia Giacobbe reflects on how encounters with others shape who we become. Luca Trapanese, Naples’ city council member for social policies, considers the welcoming of fragility as an opportunity for growth.

Finally, the documentary includes the statements of Innocenzo Pontillo and Carlo Salerno, a couple involved in Kairos, the Catholic LGBTQ+ group in Florence. Their witness shows a faith that includes and upholds every person, beyond any label.

TO VIEW THE TRAILER FOR THE DOCUMENTARY, CLICK HERE

EB: What does the documentary reveal about LGBTQ+ Catholics?

AV: In making this documentary, I tried to follow Pope Francis’ insight that “reality is superior to the idea”. We live in a world that often loses contact with the depth of daily life, where labels matter more than people. We are called to recognize one another’s humanity.

For me, the gift of words is essential: learning to use language that truly welcomes others is the first step toward learning how to love. My hope is to open a more human, more narrative space, where real stories can surface, shaped by a desire for truth and meaning.

From Elisa Belotti

Recently another Italian documentary has been released: “Chiesa casa per tutti” (“Church Home for Everyone”), capturing the LGBTQ+ Jubilee Pilgrimage organized by La Tenda di Gionata with queer Catholics, their parents and pastoral workers. [Editor’s note: This second documentary can be viewed any time on YouTube by clicking the movie title link in the previous sentence,]

September 5-6, 2025 are two dates that have already become part of collective memory. On Friday evening, there was a vigil of prayer; on Saturday morning, we celebrated a solemn Mass; and in the afternoon, we walked the pilgrimage toward the Holy Door in Saint Peter’s Basilica: a symbolic and very real passage marked by steps, faces, tears, and gratitude.

This documentary is more than a record of events. It is a moment of arrival, after years of parallel journeys, and at the same time a new beginning. It offers a sign that the Church can be a home also for those who have long struggled to feel recognized. 

A question rises again and again, gently but persistently: We are your children, may we come in? 

And perhaps, step by step, a positive answer is taking shape.

—Elisa Belotti, New Ways Ministry, December 11, 2025