Italian Bishop to LGBTQ+ People: “I would not like to speak of welcome, but of recognition and full integration”

In Albano Laziale, near Rome, the annual retreat organized by La Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent), an Italian LGBTQ+ Catholic association, recently brought together LGBTQ+ Catholics, family members of queer people, and pastoral workers for three days of conferences, prayer, and community life. The gathering also included a diocesan vigil for the overcoming of homophobia and transphobia.

The Diocese of Albano is associated with the Diocese of Rome, and its current titular (honorary) bishop is Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle,  an LGBTQ-friendly prelate from the Philippines. Before him,him, the title belonged to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who became Pope Leo XIV 

On May 16, the prayer vigil was presided over by Bishop Vincenzo Viva, the diocesan Ordinary bishop.  Bondings 2.0’s Elisa Belotti was able to ask him a couple of questions after the celebration, and also collected a text his homily, which appears in translation below.

Bishop Viva at the vigil.

Questions for Bishop Viva

What did it mean for you to preside over this vigil?

It was an important step for our Church of Albano, a thoughtful and intentional step. At the same time, we are aware that it is also a complex one, because these kinds of vigils are still divisive today, even within the Italian Church context. There is a part of the Church that does not understand their meaning and sees them as a surrender to so-called “gender ideologies” or to what they call “homosexualism.”

So I believe this is a journey we must undertake with patience, clarity, and also courage. For this reason, the vigil represented an important step for our ecclesial community.

Was the local diocesan community involved in the decision to take part in the vigil ?

Yes. For some time now, encouraged by the synodal journey taking place in the Church of Italy, we have also begun a reflection within our diocese. In our presbyteral council, we have engaged in updates and discussions both from the perspective of moral theology and from a pastoral point of view.

We also have Catholic parents of LGBTQ+ people who have accompanied their children through difficult experiences and who found great relief in meeting other parents from across Italy who are living similar situations. For these families, it is very important to come out of isolation

The Homily

During the vigil, several people shared testimonies: a gay couple, a transgender man, two parents of LGBTQ+ children, and a Catholic sister involved in pastoral work. Their reflections were interwoven with prayers and songs centered on the idea that God calls each person by name, with all their uniqueness and characteristics.

The biblical passage chosen for the vigil came from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 43:1: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Standing beside a large rainbow cross, Bishop Vincenzo Viva addressed the assembly with these words:

Bishop Vincenzo Viva addresses the congregation at the prayer vigil.

“These words, which we find in Deutero-Isaiah, remind us of a central affirmation that runs through the whole of Scripture: the people of the Covenant are constantly held within the love of their God.

“God loves his creation. God loves every person created in his image. He is the creator and also the one who shapes his people. And precisely when his people are depressed, disoriented and lost, as happened during the time of exile, God gives courage and announces hope: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine; you are precious in my eyes, because you are worthy of esteem and I love you’ (Isaiah 43:1-4).

“Notice that this affirmation is not an isolated statement in the Bible. Throughout the history of salvation, God continually repeats this idea, indeed this very imperative: “Do not fear.” He says it to different men and women, in different times, but always anew. Even on Easter morning, on the lips of the angel at Jesus’ tomb, he says: ‘Do not fear.’ The first word of the Resurrection is precisely freedom: freedom from every fear.

“In the context of exile, the people of the Covenant are therefore encouraged to come out of their fears, because the Lord has redeemed this people, has called them by name: ‘You are precious in my eyes, you are mine.’”

After reflecting on Isaiah’s invitation not to be afraid, Bishop Vincenzo Viva turned to the meaning of gathering together in prayer so that both the Church and society may become freer from homophobia and transphobia:

“If we are here this evening, dear brothers and sisters, it is because we see and experience that there are still many fears which, with the help of prayer, we must overcome. Fear has many faces and many names even in our own time, and it has the power to block joy, to block the action of the Holy Spirit, to block the understanding of the Word of God.

“This evening is the first time that our diocesan church of Albano has dedicated a prayer vigil to overcoming a fear that has caused so much suffering and continues to cause suffering to people who live in our ecclesial communities and in our cities: homophobia, transphobia and all the other forms of contempt caused by prejudice.

La Tienda di Gionata logo: “In love, there is no fear.”

“So this evening, our gathering here is a step: a thoughtful step, not something to be taken for granted, an important step for us. It is a journey that this diocese wants to make together with many other churches in Italy, with steps that may still be uncertain at times, but are real steps, encouraged also by the synodal journey we have lived and which has helped us understand many things. For this, this evening, I want to give thanks to the Lord.

“But I would also like to tell you, with all the desire I carry in my heart, that ideally this vigil we are holding should be the last prayer vigil for overcoming homotransphobia. Not because this issue has been exhausted, not because the road has already been fully travelled, but because the day when there will no longer be any need to hold vigils like this will be the day when every person is recognised.

“I would not like to speak of welcome, but of recognition and full integration. And please note: I consciously use precisely this verb, to recognise. Every person will be recognised as a living, original, irreplaceable and visible part of the Body of Christ, without having to pretend to be what they are not, or having to hide.

“Welcome presupposes that someone arrives from outside and is allowed in through someone else’s generosity. But, as baptised people, no one is a guest this evening in this church. God knows us by name, loves us, and repeats to us that we belong to him.

“There is therefore no door to cross, because, by virtue of our baptism, we are already inside: each one of us, with our identity, with our story, with our poverty, our inconsistencies, but also with our gifts and our unique characteristics.”

Bishop Viva then turned to the concrete wounds that still make these vigils necessary, speaking openly about the responsibility of both society and the Church in confronting exclusion, prejudice, and violence experienced by LGBTQ+ people and their families:

“We are all inside the heart of God and inside the ecclesial body, even when this body, with its human frailties, has struggled, and still struggles, to recognise and accept differences. Precisely for this reason, unfortunately, we must say it: this vigil is still necessary, still now and here, and it would be dishonest not to recognise this.

“It is necessary because we must help the whole people of God to mature, to grow in their faith, to live an inclusive faith, not a sectarian one; a faith capable of healing the wounds of hatred, prejudice, ignorance and superficiality with love, knowledge and fraternity.

“We must ask forgiveness, yes, from God, because we do not take the substance of his Word seriously enough. Because there are still many people whose lives are wounded, if not at times completely destroyed, by violence that is first intellectual, then verbal, then physical violence that same-sex attracted and transsexual people breathe in our society.

“There are too many stories of exclusion, too many victims of gender-based violence, too many gay men, lesbian women and trans people rejected by their families, kicked out, even in our Diocese of Albano, bullied, ridiculed.

“There are still many parents who, perhaps precisely within our ecclesial community, should receive help and tools to overcome unjustified feelings of shame and prejudice.

“There are still too many gazes that do not see the person, but see a deviation, a mistake in creation, a threat, a problem.”

The Bishop concluded by returning to the biblical image at the center of the vigil: a God who calls each person by name. From this starting point, he reflected on the need for a Church capable of listening, welcoming, and taking the first steps toward those who have too often felt silenced, judged, or pushed to the margins:

“The experience of the people of the Covenant, the Word of God tells us, was that of having a creator and redeemer God. It is he who says to all of us this evening: ‘Take courage, do not fear!’

“We must say it: for too long certain voices have remained without microphones, certain faces have been kept in the shadows, within families, within parish communities, within society. But silence has caused harm. Silence, at times, has seemed like prudence, but silence that covers pain is not prudence: many times it is complicity.

“Authentically human communication –and the Gospel is communication, perhaps the most radical form of communication – is the kind that calls people by name, that makes room for their story, that does not reduce any person to a label.

“So this evening let us ask the Lord: help us, Lord, help us with your Spirit, so that our parishes may be places where no one feels under examination, where no one carries the burden of having to prove that they deserve their place; places where families and people find understanding, not judgement; where everyone may live their spiritual life without having to hide it; where diversity is not tolerated, but recognised as a richness.

“Of course, all this requires patience, conversion, listening. It sometimes requires the courage to take even the first step, as we have done this evening, as the church of Albano: to take the first step toward those who have moved away because they were wounded.

“And so may the Lord help us also in this: to keep taking these first steps, through the intercession also of the Virgin Mother Mary. Amen.”

—Elisa Belotti, New Ways Ministry, May 23, 2026