VATICAN CITY (AP) — Hundreds of LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families descended on Rome for a Holy Year pilgrimage Saturday, celebrating a new level of acceptance in the Catholic Church after long feeling shunned and crediting Pope Francis with the change.

The vice president of the Italian bishops conference, Bishop Franceseco Savino, celebrated Mass for the pilgrims in a packed Chiesa del Gesu, the main Jesuit church in Rome.

“No one should feel excluded,” he said in his homily, quoting Francis that “everyone, everyone, everyone” was welcome.

Several LGBTQ+ groups signed up to participate in the pilgrimage, which was listed in the Vatican’s official calendar of events for the Holy Year, the once-every-quarter century celebration of Catholicism. Vatican organizers stressed that listing in

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