Although Pope Francis, the incumbent Sovereign of Vatican City, has expressed support for same-sex civil unions outside of the Catholic Church, he remains firm that the Sacrament of Marriage is between a man and a woman as instituted by God.

[7] In 2008, Jean-Loup Kuhn-Delforge, who is an openly-gay diplomat, and who is in a civil pact with his partner, was rejected by Roman Catholic officials to be the French ambassador to the Holy See.

[8][9] In November 2024, it was reported by various news and media outlets that an “underground network of gay priests was running within Vatican City”.

[12][13] On 13 January 1998, the LGBT activist of Arcigay Alfredo Ormando set himself on fire on St. Peter's Square (which is under the jurisdiction of the Vatican City) in protest against the attitude of deep-rooted refusal that has always been expressed by the Catholic religion towards homosexuality.

The letter claimed the section of the bill prohibiting incitement of hatred on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity constituted a violation of freedom of speech and of religion, and asked for the draft law's text to be reformulated.