Holy Enough: Walking through St. Peter’s Holy Door with my husband | Monday Invocation
“Jim, a member of Dignity Washington, and I, an ordained United Church of Christ minister, arrived in Rome as newlyweds, less than four months into a new papacy, with no guarantee of what it would mean for people like us.”
In honor of LGBTQ+ History Month, we're spending October exploring a spiritual practice that so many of our LGBTQ+ siblings of faith engaged with for centuries: pilgrimage. Over the last couple of weeks, we started sharing stories from LGBTQ+ Christians who have encountered God through pilgrimage in all kinds of ways.
Although we cannot share stories highlighting every kind of pilgrimage, identity, or experience in just a few short weeks, we are excited to share these stories with you in this season and hope to share more in future as we hear more and more of your stories of pilgrimage.
Today, The Rev. Dr. Jason Carson Wilson reflects as one of the 1,200 LGBTQ+ pilgrims walking through St. Peter’s Basilica’s Holy Door in 2025.
Pilgrims in the Church of the Gesù in Rome.
My husband, Jim Sweeney, and I walked through St. Peter’s Basilica’s Holy Door on Sept. 6—alongside more than 1,000 other LGBTQ+ people and their families. What a way to celebrate our honeymoon.
Anticipation mingled with excitement consumed us both.
As we neared the Holy Door, I kept my eyes on my husband—a 79-year-old cradle Catholic from Cincinnati’s Mt. Adams. Watching him experience the Church’s official acceptance blessed me.
DignityUSA called it the first LGBTQ+ pilgrimage the Vatican has recognized. The Associated Press reported that some pilgrims wept as they crossed the threshold.
The moment carried weight. The Jubilee, a Holy Year the Catholic Church celebrates once every 25 years, began on Christmas Eve 2024, when Pope Francis opened that same door.
Francis died April 21, and Pope Leo XIV succeeded him.
Jim, a member of Dignity Washington, and I, an ordained United Church of Christ minister, arrived in Rome as newlyweds, less than four months into a new papacy, with no guarantee of what it would mean for people like us.
Let’s be precise about what this was and wasn’t. The Italian group Jonathan’s Tent organized the pilgrimage, and DignityUSA and Outreach took part.
Vatican organizers stressed that a spot on the Holy Year calendar is a logistical tool, not an endorsement. No one handed us a blessing on letterhead.
We were allowed into the building. After everything LGBTQ+ Catholics have endured, that counts for something, but it is not justice.
Before we crossed, I told the Washington Blade that, to me, the door signified that we are holy and holy enough to walk through it. Jim and I were overcome with emotion as we internalized the unexpected affirmation and welcome.
The weekend included a prayer vigil and a Mass at the Church of the Gesù, a Jesuit church in central Rome.
Bishop Francesco Savino, vice president of the Italian bishops’ conference, celebrated Mass and said he had received Leo’s blessing to do so. Attending a Catholic Mass with LGBTQIA+ people from around the world was surreal.
Listening to the choir and congregation sing Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors brought me to tears.
Older pilgrims knew what that door has cost. DignityUSA’s Marianne Duddy-Burke told the Associated Press that her U.S. LGBTQIA+ contingent was considered a threat at the last Holy Year, 25 years ago.
Now, the analysis. The signals from Leo are mixed. After meeting the pope on Sept. 1, the Rev. James Martin, the Jesuit who founded Outreach, said that Leo wanted to continue Francis’ approach of “openness and welcome.”
Leo has also reaffirmed church doctrine that marriage is between a man and a woman, though he has said priests may continue to bless same-sex couples.
At that weekend’s Jubilee audience, he made no special mention of LGBTQIA+ pilgrims. Years before his election, Robert Prevost had criticized the “homosexual lifestyle.”
Jim told the Blade he expects Leo to carry forward Francis’ welcome. I told the Blade I was cautiously optimistic, and I’m keeping that posture: grateful for the door, watchful for the table.
The pilgrimage’s official title was “Church: Home for All.” A threshold is not a home. Whether Leo’s church will let us stay, serve, marry, and lead is the real test. I’ll keep watching.
Q Christian Fellowship aims to prophetically model a world where all LGBTQ+ people are fully loved by family, church, and community, and Christians worldwide live up to their calling to be instruments of grace and defenders of the outcasts. The generosity of those who believe in this work is crucial to that vision. If you'd like to help us to continue to create resources and spaces where faith and identity are held together, we invite you to make a donation at the link below!
