ROME — Gay Roman Catholic pilgrims will have a special day on Sept. 6 during next year’s Jubilee Holy Year celebrations, the Vatican confirmed Friday following a report in Il Messaggero.
On that day, members of the Church’s LGBT+ community will be welcomed at the Jesuit mother church, the Church of the Gesù, in central Rome.
“The Jubilee of 2025 will open its doors to the first pilgrimage dedicated specifically to gays and LGBT+ people,” Il Messaggero reported.
“An absolute novelty, unthinkable until a few years ago, the result of a pastoral attention that extends to milieus usually considered marginal,” the paper added.
The report said the historic baroque Church of the Gesù is promoting the welcoming of LGBT+ pilgrims, their families, and workers, as well as individuals involved with rainbow associations.
These groups are led in Italy by Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent), an association founded on March 18, 2018, at the request of Don David Esposito, a priest who passed away prematurely.
Esposito had dreamed that Christian communities would “widen the tent” (Isaiah 54) to create space for all, transforming them into sanctuaries of welcome and support for LGBT individuals and others facing discrimination.
Asked about the report, Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the Jubilee’s director, told ANSA, “Everyone is welcome.”
Fisichella, who is also pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization and responsible for organizing the Jubilee, confirmed that “the initiative was born at the instigation of the Association ‘La Tenda di Gionata’ and is on the calendar like many others.”
Soon after his election in 2013, Pope Francis made headlines with his “Who am I to judge?” remark when asked about gays in the Church. In May 2022, he wrote a letter to gay Catholics saying, “The Church does not refuse you.” More recently, he has criticized a “gay lobby” within the upper echelons of the Church.
ANSA
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