The Rev. Jason Carson Wilson, left, and his husband, Jim Sweeney, participated in an LGBTQ pilgrimage to the Vatican on Sept. 6.
(Photo courtesy of the Rev. Jason Carson Wilson)
MICHAEL K. LAVERS | Washington Blade
Courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association
Jim Sweeney and his husband, the Rev. Jason Carson Wilson, a gay couple from D.C., were two of the more than 1,200 people who participated in an LGBTQ pilgrimage to the Vatican on Saturday, Sept. 6, during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee.
The pilgrims entered St. Peter’s Basilica through its Holy Door, which CNN notes symbolizes forgiveness and reconciliation. The year-long Jubilee began on Christmas Eve when then-Pope Francis opened the Holy Door. The pilgrims on Sept. 5 attended a Mass that took place at Rome’s Church of the Gesù.
DignityUSA, in a press release, noted that the event marks the first time the Vatican has ever recognized an LGBTQ pilgrimage.
“We’re really, really excited,” Sweeney, a member of Dignity Washington, told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview from Rome. “This is a first.”
Wilson is a former journalist and founding executive director of the Bayard Rustin Liberation Institute and an ordained United Church of Christ minister. He echoed his husband’s comments: “To be here in Rome, the cradle of Catholicism, is just an amazing experience,” Wilson told the Blade.
DignityUSA President Meli Barber described the pilgrimage as “truly historic, even miraculous.”
“Many of us could not have imagined that LGBTQ+ Catholics, who have too often been unwelcome in our own church, will have a chance to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and to pray together there as part of a Holy Year event,” Barber said.
“We carry the hope that this is another milepost along the path to full inclusion in our church, the church we have always been part of. We are filled with joy and pride for everyone who will be representing us all,” she added.
Francis DeBernardo is executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based organization that ministers to LGBTQ Catholics. He also took part in the pilgrimage.
“It’s a great and historic honor to be part of this pilgrimage,” DeBernardo said in a press release. “The fact that the Vatican is welcoming this pilgrimage shows how much the church has grown in regard to accepting LGBTQ+ people.”
The pilgrimage took place less than four months after American-born Pope Leo XIV succeeded Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under Francis’ papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality did not change.
As pope, Leo has reaffirmed Vatican doctrine that says marriage is between a man and a woman but has also said he will continue to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.
Pope Leo met on Sept. 1 with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who founded Outreach, a ministry for LGBTQ Catholics.
“Let me address what many people want to know: Pope Leo’s approach to LGBTQ Catholic ministry,” said Martin in a message posted to Outreach’s website.
“The message I received from him, loud and clear, was that he wanted to continue with the same approach that Pope Francis had advanced, which was one of openness and welcome.
“So, it was very much a hopeful message of continuity.”
Sweeney said he expects Leo will continue Francis’s legacy of welcoming LGBTQ Catholics into the church, while Wilson said he is “cautiously optimistic.”
“I just really am glad to see that we’re in the space, that we’re going to have this pilgrimage, and that LGBT people are going to be allowed to walk through the Holy Door, signifying that we are holy, that we are holy enough to walk through that door,” Wilson told the Blade.