Good Morning America co-anchor Gio Benitez, a homosexual, was confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church on Monday — with his husband serving as his sponsor.
The openly gay journalist announced the sacrament took place at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York, where Tommy DiDario stood beside him for the ceremony. Benitez called it “a journey that was a lifetime in the making” in an Instagram post, noting he was first baptized Christian 25 years ago at age 15. (RELATED: Conservative Archbishop Paul Coakley Named Head Of US Catholic Bishops)
Benitez said he spent years wrestling with his faith, asking “If God created me, how could he not love me?” He studied religion in college, he wrote, “searching for proof of God. But maybe I was just searching for proof of God’s love.”
Everything shifted after Pope Francis’ death in April, Benitez said. Jesuit priest James Martin appeared on Good Morning America to discuss “Pope Francis’ legacy of inclusivity,” which Benitez called “the first time I had seen a Catholic priest speaking in such a beautiful way about LGBTQ people.”
The following month, Benitez heard another sermon at his baptismal church about Christ’s command to love one another.
“When we’re able to love and love freely and openly — and love ourselves as well — we are a long way down the road to fulfilling the Kingdom of God,” pastor Eric Andrews said, according to Benitez.
Benitez concluded that “the proof of God’s love wasn’t in the books or lecture halls, or even the amount of years I spent studying. That divine love was in me all along, always whispering guidance, gently reaching out with arms wide open, and, like Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, patiently waiting for me to reach back out and embrace the greatest mystery.”
He said the Confirmation Mass was intimate — just family and close friends — but Benitez said he felt the pews “were filled with a cloud of witnesses,” including deceased relatives.
He thanked his “incredible husband and sponsor” and those who guided him, concluding he’d “found the Ark of the Covenant in my heart, stored there by the one who created me… exactly as I am.”