First openly gay football player Michael Sam confirmed that he and boyfriend Vito Cammissano are already engaged and revealed that he asked the question at the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

On his Twitter page, Sam posted a photo of himself kneeling before Cammissano atop the St. Peter's Basilica. The photo came with the caption "@Vitcamm Thank you for saying yes."

A TMZ report said that the gesture was like an "act of defiance" since gay marriage is still very much objected by the Catholic church.

Earlier articles revealed that the couple were already engaged during a European trip which started end of of last year. Though the two never confirmed the news reports, their friends posted photos of them and the engagement.

During his interview with Oprah last month, Sam confidently said that he wants to marry his longtime boyfriend.

"I think if someone wants to spend the rest of their lives with another person, by all means, do that. It's all about equality," he said.

Watch the interview here.

The football player made an official coming out last year when he was drafted by the NFL and when he kissed his boyfriend on live television.

Daily Mail said that his announcement on Twitter was very timely with Pope Francis' statement during his visit to the Philippines where he said that "The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage."

The couple had been together for a long time already noting that they met during a college party when Sam was just a freshman at the University of Missouri.

According to Daily Mail, Sam remembers the exact situation when he and Cammissano met - the former was wearing a rabbit costume complete with a tail and was vomiting over a railing from a second-story deck.

"I went up to him to ask if he was OK, and he started cursing at me, screaming, ''F--- off - do you know who I am?' I told him I didn't care who he was. We didn't speak again for two years," Sam explained.

In 2011, the two started dating secretly as Sam was still closeted at the time, Daily Mail added.

"Early on, it was awesome. And then bad things started to happen. When Vito came to my house, he had to sneak through in and out of the window. Vito was getting really tired of that," adding that they broke up after that incident then just got reunited during Christmas.

Daily Mail said the two made their relationship public last year and made headlines when Sam was drafted in the NFL. He was however dropped by the Rams but he is still hoping that he can still come back to the NFL.