07/08/2026
The same church that told these men their gay love was a sickness ended up putting their pain on the record - and most people still don't know it happened.
A gay man was pushed by his church to marry a woman to "cure" himself. Another was told to swear off men forever.
Both of their stories now sit inside an official Vatican document, released earlier this year - the first time an official church document has ever included detailed gay testimony about the harm caused by conversion therapy.
The American man had been sent to Courage, a Catholic group that instructs gay people to remain celibate for life. The Vatican now calls Courage "problematic."
The man from Portugal described the "devastating effects" of being pushed toward heterosexuality, a program that left him, in the Vatican's own words, with "profound suffering," "personal lacerations," and a "double life."
The report concludes that sin lies not in a same-sex relationship, but in "a lack of faith in a God who desires our fulfillment."
Rev. James Martin, who leads the LGBTQ+ Catholic ministry Outreach, called it the first Vatican publication ever to include detailed testimony from gay Catholics.
The Vatican still hasn't fully condemned conversion therapy. But it's on the record now, in their own words.
