Pope Francis LGBT+ people "have called by name". The Church and my hopes for the future
Testimony taken from an interview published on Sky News (United Kingdom) on 9 May 2025. Freely translated by the volunteers of the Gionata project.
"What emerges, also from my personal experience, is that before Francesco's pontificate many of our realities were unpronounceable in the Catholic Church", says Paolo Spina, 38 -year -old Italian doctor (and partner of the La Gionata's Tent Association), who has always actively participated in ecclesial life as a catechist and voluntary life.
"My bishop, when I told him I was gay, could not even pronounce the word" homosexual "... now things have changed, and a lot."
Looking back to the inheritance of Pope Francis and the path of LGBT+ people in the Church, Spina admits that not everything was simple: "We suffered various steps back, like the waters of an important declaration that opened to the possibility of blessings for the same sex couples. Many of us, including me, would have hoped for more openings by Pope Francis, starting from those shy but encouraging signals that had arrived ».
Yet, he adds with lucidity and gratitude: "I realize that Francesco cannot be removed from having started a process, that he had started something new and never seen before at the highest levels of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church".
Today Paolo lives a civil union and continues to hope. “What we will never forget is that he has called us by name. No other Pope had ever done it. And probably this has encouraged other bishops and priests to call us by name, to no longer see us as a "problem", but as people, as sons and daughters of God. Everyone. I hope this has really triggered a process that will no longer return back. "
Original text: 'He called us by our name' - Italian doctor says gay community suffered setbacks with Francis but he deserves 'Great merit'
