Gay kiss at Vatican ceremony goes viral during announcement of the new pope

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Translated by Fefo Campos

The crowd filled every corner of St. Peter’s Square when, at the exact moment white smoke signaled the new leader of the Catholic Church, two men kissed in front of the cameras — a brief and silent gesture, yet one that echoed around the world with symbolic force. Juan and Bruno, a couple made up of an Argentine and a Brazilian, were there by chance, unaware that they would become the protagonists of one of the most talked-about moments of the announcement of Pope Leo XIV.

Watch the moment:

The video, broadcast by Vatican TV and widely shared on social media, captures the public’s reaction to the selection of Robert Prevost as the new pontiff. Amid flags, applause, and expressions of faith, the watchful eyes of the cameras caught, for a few seconds, a kiss between two men standing discreetly in the background of the square. The gesture, seemingly simple, took on a significance that transcended the moment: it became a symbol of resistance and LGBTQ+ visibility in a space historically hostile to gender and sexual diversity.

“It was something natural”, Juan explained in an interview to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. “I noticed a camera was filming us, told Bruno, and in that moment, I kissed him. There was no planning. It just happened.” They were visiting the Vatican by coincidence on the day the new pope would be revealed. “We knew it could happen, but we didn’t imagine it would be that day.”

Together for twelve years, Juan and Bruno live in Brazil. Juan is Argentine and works as a hairdresser; Bruno, a Brazilian doctor, was visiting St. Peter’s Square for the first time. Both identify as atheists and were not there for religious reasons. Even so, they feel that the unexpected gesture carries a direct message to the institution that has shaped discourses on morality, sexuality, and belonging for centuries.

The image sparked both criticism and praise. For many, the kiss was seen as a provocation; for others, it served as a reminder of the presence and resilience of LGBTQ+ people in all spaces. “We didn’t want to cause anything. We were just being ourselves”, the couple said. In response to negative reactions, Bruno was firm: “People should love more and judge less. Those who criticize often ignore realities they don’t understand. Our love is strong, and that doesn’t change because of someone else’s opinion.”

The election of Leo XIV — the first pope from the United States — took place after the death of Francis, who had promoted some progress in the discourse on diversity within the Church, though without profound doctrinal changes. Robert Prevost, however, has a less receptive history. In 2012, he criticized what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” and expressed opposition to the so-called “gender ideology,” a term commonly used to delegitimize the rights of transgender people.

Before leaving Italy for other cities in Europe, Juan and Bruno said that, if they had the chance to speak with Leo XIV, they would say: “Love must come before everything. And so must empathy. Religion without empathy is no good to anyone.” For them, the gesture that went viral was not a provocation, but an affirmation. A reminder that, even in 2025, a kiss can still be seen as subversive — which only reinforces the need for it to happen.