There have been a number of LGBT Catholics throughout history.
Artists
A number of influential Italian Catholic artists of the Renaissance and the Baroque who were notable for their religious paintings and sculpture were considered to have been homosexual or bisexual. These include Donatello, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. In addition, Michelangelo Buonarroti was noted for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, under which popes are elected to this day. Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art, and whose homosexuality strongly influenced his work. He was a Ruthenian Catholic and regularly volunteered at homeless shelters in New York to practice his faith. He described himself as a religious person and regularly attended mass. Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–89) was an American photographer. From 1977 until 1980, Mapplethorpe was the lover of gay writer and Drummer magazine editor Jack Fritscher. He was brought up in a Roman Catholic household and although he later "lapsed" from practicing the religion, he created art suffused with Catholicism – particularly in the areas of Catholic guilt and eroticism.
Politicians and royalty
Politicians
Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002), Dutch politician and civil servant was openly gay, stating in a 2002 interview that he was Catholic. Ruth Hunt (b. 1980) is Chief Executive of leading UK-based lesbian, gay and bisexual equality organisation Stonewall, the largest gay equality body in Europe. She was formerly President of the Oxford University Student Union. Hunt is a practicing Roman Catholic and has spoken out in favour of bridging the gap between faith leaders and LGBT communities. Stefan Kaufmann (born 1969) is a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He is openly gay, and a devout practising Catholic. Daniel Kawczynski (born 1972), Polish-born British Member of Parliament. A practising Catholic, he came out in 2013 and is in a same-sex civil partnership. Jens Spahn (born 1980), German politician, former Federal Minister of Health. Spahn is a self-described Roman Catholic although he has stated publicly that he has problems with the Catholic Church and its sexual morality. He lives with his husband Daniel Funke, a German journalist and lobbyist, in Berlin's Schöneberg district. In December 2017, the two married in a civil ceremony at Borbeck Palace in Essen, officiated by the city's mayor Thomas Kufen. Klaus Wowereit (born 1953), German politician, former mayor of Berlin. Came out as gay, by declaring in the by now famous statement: "Ich bin schwul und das ist auch gut so!" ("I am gay and that's a good thing, too!") Sean Patrick Maloney (born 1966), U.S. representative from from 2013 to 2023 and former DCCC chair Geraldine Roman (born 1967), Filipina politician and journalist, Representative of Bataan's 1st district since 2016. She is the first transgender person elected to the Congress of the Philippines.
Royalty
Queen Christina of Sweden (1626 – 1689) reigned from 1632 before her abdication in 1654. Modern biographers generally consider her to have been a lesbian, and her affairs with women were noted during her lifetime. She was a prominent convert to Catholicism in 1654 and is one of only 6 women to be buried in the crypt of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663 – 1736), the military commander of the Catholic Imperial forces in the Holy Roman Empire, was predominantly homosexual. King Ludwig II (1845 – 1886) was monarch of the Catholic Kingdom of Bavaria from 1864 until his death; it is known from his diary and private letters that he had strong homosexual desires which he tried to suppress. He remained a devout Catholic throughout his life and attended services regularly; building chapels for prayer within his castles, and commissioning religious art. King Umberto II of Italy was an intense Catholic, described by his biographer Domenico Bartoli as "almost to the point of fanaticism", but he was unable to resist what he called his "satanic" homosexual urges.