Italian Bishop Francesco Savino says denying same-sex intimacy is “wrong,” defends LGBT dignity in interview and Jubilee Mass.
Newsroom (07/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) An Italian bishop has declared there is “nothing wrong” with homosexual practices, asserting that people in same-sex relationships deserve intimacy “on a sexual level” without denial of their “right,” in remarks likely to ignite fierce debate among Catholics worldwide.
Bishop Francesco Savino of Cassano all’Jonio, 70, made the statements in an interview with DirittoDiCronaca.it. As one of three vice-presidents of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, he argued the Church must “restore dignity to everyone, especially to those who have been denied it.” He insisted: “People in same-sex relationships should not be denied the opportunity to be loved and to love, even on an intimate, sexual level, because denying them this, denying them their right, I repeat, is simply wrong.”
Savino’s stance contrasts sharply with official Catholic doctrine. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that while persons with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies must be treated with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” homosexual acts remain “intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.” Faithful experiencing same-sex attraction are called to chastity through self-mastery and grace.
The prelate, appointed bishop by Pope Francis in 2015, has long championed LGBT causes. On September 6, he presided over a Mass for over 1,000 LGBT Catholic pilgrims at Rome’s Church of the Gesù during the 2025 Jubilee of Hope. Organized by the lay association Tenda di Gionata, the service reportedly followed Pope Leo XIV’s direct urging: “Go and celebrate the Jubilee organised by Tenda di Gionata and the other groups that work with brothers and sisters who are all of you.”
Concelebrated by roughly 30 priests—including Jesuit Father James Martin, the prominent U.S. advocate for LGBT ministry—the liturgy featured pilgrims in shirts reading “nell’amore non c’è timore” (“there is no fear in love,” 1 John 4:18) and waving rainbow fans. A rainbow cross led the recessional procession.
Addressing the assembly, Savino declared: “We are all a pilgrim people of hope and we want to leave this celebration more joyful and hopeful than ever. We have to go forward, convinced that God loves us with a unique and unrepeatable love – unconditional love.”
Born November 13, 1954, in Bitonto near Bari, Savino was ordained in 1978 for the Diocese of Ruvo e Bitonto. He holds degrees in theology and anthropology, taught religion, directed Caritas in Bitonto, and served as rector of the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian (1989). As vice president for southern Italy in the bishops’ conference, he has visited war-torn Odessa and a Calabrian migrant shipwreck site, advocating migration, peace, and human dignity.
Savino’s latest comments and actions underscore a growing tension between progressive pastoral outreach and unchanging Church teaching on sexuality, with potential ripple effects across global Catholicism.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Catholic Herald
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