September 6, 2025. 3 p.m. The association ‘The Tenda di Gionata’, A group of LGTBIQ+ Christians endorsed by the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Jesuits, will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to participate in the events of the Jubilee 2025. This pilgrimage, the first made up of gay, lesbian and transsexual believers, had has been included in the official Vatican agenda for this event, which hopes to attract 35 million pilgrims to Rome.
The news is relevant, insofar as it is an open door to the recognition of the ‘majority’ of the LGTBIQ+ group (in Italy, as in the case of the PSOE, the last two acronyms are not included either), and more being a Jubilee Year, as reported by the newspaper Il Messaggero. Along with the pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Peter, the events will include a pilgrimage to the church of Il Gesú, the mother church of the Jesuits, where the remains of Saint Ignatius of Loyola are located.
The announcement, confirmed by the Holy See, caused a stir among ultra-conservative sectors, who accused the Vatican of “blessing” homosexual unions, in a movement similar to the one that emerged just a year ago, when the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith published the ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ declaration in which he opened the door to the “non-liturgical” blessing of homosexual individuals and couples. As on that occasion, the ultra pressures caused the event disappeared from the calendar of the official Jubilee website (this is the link), although all the sources consulted emphasize that the LGTBIQ+ pilgrimage to Rome continues.
In fact, the person in charge of the Jubilee, Rino Fisichella, confirmed the celebration of this pilgrimage, explaining that the initiative was born at the request of ‘La Tenda di Gionata’, and that a free date was sought to locate it. “Everyone is welcome,” explained the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization.
One of the greatest defenders of the inclusion of homosexual Catholics in the Church, the Jesuit Pino Piva, confessed to having made a request to the Vatican in this regard: “We wrote a letter explaining why we wanted to be there. And after many months, they responded positively, including our request to pass through the Holy Door.”
For the organizers of the event, there is no room for controversy: “In the Catholic Church, the Jubilee is a year dedicated ‘to the remission of sins, reconciliation and conversion.’ A tradition that has its roots in the Bible, where it was celebrated every 50 years as a time of rest for the earth and an opportunity to reestablish the correct relationship with God, between people and with creation,” they point out from ‘La tenda di Gionata’.
Thus, on September 6, “along with other nearby realities, we will make a pilgrimage with LGTBIQ+ believers, their families and the pastoral agents who accompany them, as we have done since 2018, to the Holy Door of San Pedro, to live this time together in that we are all called to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberation to the prisoners and sight to the blind; liberate the oppressed, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” “Simply rediscover that we are all sons and daughters on the path to the Father,” he concludes his note.
However, after the ‘exit’ of the day’s calendar, the spokesperson for the Vatican evangelization office (in charge of organizing the event), Agnese Palmucci, declared to Reuters that the inclusion of this pilgrimage in the jubilee calendar does not necessarily imply direct support to organized events. “These are not activities organized by the Vatican,” clarified Palmucci, who did recognize that the Vatican’s priority is to guarantee that all pilgrims have the opportunity to cross the Holy Doors. That is what was done with this one: “Once we have verified that there is a free date, we introduce the pilgrimage into the general calendar,” he explained.
All information in www.religiondigital.org
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