Francesco Lepore (pronounce: Léhporeh), born on May 9, 1976, is a former priest of the Diocese of Benevento and minor official in the Roman Curia who became a journalist and an LGBTQ activist after leaving the church.

As he would later tell the sociologist Frédéric Martel, who dedicated the entire first chapter of the international bestseller Sodoma (2019) to his story, the reason that most prompted him to undertake the path towards the priesthood was the awareness of his homosexuality.

[2] Lepore moved to Rome to complete his graduate studies at the Pontifical University of The Holy Cross, obtaining his licentiate of Sacred Theology in 2003.

He earned a laurea in Ancient Literature at LUMSA University of Rome in 2006 with a thesis titled Spero eius me patrocinio salvari.

[7] On his blog in Latin, entitled "O tempora, o mores", he comments daily news on politics, crime, health, customs, civil rights with a classical and at the same time modern style through neologisms, to the use of which he was introduced in the years of Vatican experience.