On Monday, Dec. 18, Pope Francis formally granted permission for ordained ministers of the Catholic church to bless people in same-gender relationships. Within hours of the announcement, Father Paul Galetto, one of the Augustinian friars serving St. Paul Parish in the Italian Market, was already planning a service to honor those in LGBTQ+ unions. Approximately 20 people gathered for a Festival of Blessing on Thursday, Dec. 28.
“This gathering is not a ceremony that validates relationships,” Galetto said in his opening statements. “You yourself validate your relationship.” He explained that only love and forgiveness between two people can make a relationship holy, underlining that “no words a minister says” are more important than that.
A song guided parishioners in further contemplation. The lyrics added to the words of Jesus during the Last Supper: “In remembrance of me, search for truth. In remembrance of me, always love. In remembrance of me, don’t look above but in your heart.”
Candlelight danced on a mural displaying a scene of the crucifixion as attendees kneeled or bowed their heads during a long, prayerful pause. Father David Cregan then shared a reflection, highlighting the Biblical story of God appearing to Elijah not in an overt or powerful presence but in a tiny, whispering voice.
He said he hopes those in attendance have heard “that tiny, whispering voice that speaks to our soul and gives us insight.” He underlined that the voice points to mercy. “Pope Francis told us this week that mercy can widen,” he said, explaining that this new declaration expands the mercy all people are called to embody.
“How could we tell any child of God that they do not belong?” he added. Cregan noted that when he shared a similar message with a different congregation, some of those parishioners said they weren’t comfortable with his remarks.
Chris Pinto, a gay man who was raised Catholic, has lived across the street for over two decades. He finds it symbolic for the city as a whole that St. Paul’s Festival of Blessing occurred in one of Philadelphia’s oldest Catholic communities.
“The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been starkly conservative — I mean, extremely conservative,” said Pinto, who attended a Catholic university and sits on the advisory board of a Catholic school. He feels a deep connection to the faith, and like many others who have lacked safe outlets to explore and express their spirituality, he was left yearning for a spiritual home.
For years, he would attend annual Ash Wednesday services because the holy day is important to him.
“Every year, I would be disappointed,” he explained — until last year’s Lenten service, which he said was different.
“They started off with ‘Welcome to St. Paul Parish where all are welcome — and we mean everybody,’” he said. “You don’t ever hear that kind of inclusive language at other parishes.”
Now Pinto starts almost every morning with mass at St. Paul’s.
As Pinto started getting to know the congregation, he was impressed by people’s tangible compassion for even the most marginalized queer people. For instance, he recalled a time when elderly Italian women rushed to support a new attendee who is Black and trans. They sat with her during the service to help her navigate the liturgy, shared their prayer books, and offered their phone numbers in case she wanted to connect.
He believes what’s happening at St. Paul Parish is the beginning of a new movement of “radical Catholicism” and could be the catalyst for a changing landscape for Catholic Philadelphians.
Father Paul Galetto was new to the church last year — previously serving at Villanova — but his arrival didn’t mark a shift in the community. He merely followed along with what was already happening.
Multiple LGBTQ+ people were already part of the community, and it has hosted baptisms and funerals for queer families. This past year, Pinto said church attendance has grown 42% overall. Three months ago, at least 125 people attended the parish’s panel discussion on gender, sexuality and faith. Pinto spoke about his own faith journey and experiences of the Catholic church, and Cregan apologized on behalf of the institution for the harm he and others have endured.
“It was a night of healing,” Pinto said. “They really have been intentional about creating a safe space where people are seen.”
Two members who described themselves as allies had attended the panel and came to the Festival of Blessing to support LGBTQ+ parishioners. They have been part of the community for over a year but recently attended a service in their hometown in New York where the parable of the mustard seed was misconstrued into a anti-queer message. They appreciate the open, inclusive atmosphere at St. Paul’s.
Another attendee, a trans woman who’d never visited the parish before that night’s service, entered the church with apprehension. She’d been to other religious services in the past where pastors offered vague words about loving and supporting each other but never truly made tangible statements of affirmation.
She felt pleasantly surprised to feel so safe in a Catholic church and shared that she felt both priests genuinely desire to celebrate queer families and their love. She left the service wiping tears from her eyes and was deeply moved when Galetto told her, “God bless you.”
A priest from another local parish came to the festival to see how he might organize a similar event for his congregation in the future. He said that even though he is an accepting person, many queer parishioners have left his church.
“I’m welcoming to them, but the archdiocese is not welcoming,” he said. He views the pope’s recent announcement as a “half step” which may be a bridge to those who have been excluded from the institution — but he does not believe it is enough to bring them back.
In his declaration, the pope maintained that priests should not endorse gay marriage, and the sacrament of marriage remains reserved for heteronormative couples. Galetto believes the Catholic church will one day truly affirm queer people.
“Eventually it will come, and people will see that an LGBTQ couple is two people in love who sacrifice for each other — and they’ll see that as a beautiful relationship,” he said. “It will take time, but eventually, I think it will come.”