Pope Francis approves LGBT ‘pilgrimage’ for 2025 Jubilee: report

[Stone]

Pope Francis approves LGBT ‘pilgrimage’ for 2025 Jubilee: report
Pope Francis and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered a potential successor to Francis, have reportedly approved an LGBT event for the 2025 Jubilee, including a 'pilgrimage' passing through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica.

Dec 6, 2024
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [adapted]) — Pope Francis has approved an LGBT-specific pilgrimage during the 2025 Jubilee year, an Italian Vaticanist reported, continuing his policy of openness to LGBT individuals.

According to a report by Il Messaggero’s Franca Giansoldati today, a pilgrimage to Rome specifically for LGBT individuals will take place next September, as part of the official Jubilee celebrations.

Giansoldati wrote that “a special moment of spirituality has been included in the official calendar of the Holy Year on Sept. 6, and the historic Baroque church of the Gesù has become the promoter of welcoming Lgbt+ pilgrims, their parents, workers and all those who gravitate to these rainbow associations.”

The beautiful and famously lavishly decorated church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Jesuit order, home to relics of St. Francis Xavier. Its usage by the LGBT pilgrimage is due to the event itself being the brainchild of a Jesuit priest from Bologna, Father Pino Piva, who brought the idea to the Pope.

According to Giansoldati, Francis approved the idea, which also received the backing of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi – the president of the Italian bishops’ conference. Not only this, but Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Jesuits, also supported the plan as “a good thing,” according to Il Messaggero.

However Giansoldati referenced a “lot of internal resistance” to the pilgrimage, though did not point to any more specific details.

The Dicastery for Evangelization – which oversees the Jubilee – has yet to respond to queries from this correspondent about the event. However, an official spoke to Reuters saying that inclusion in the official calendar did not imply support of a specific event.

The Dicastery’s pro-prefect Archbishop Rino Fisichella, has – according to Giansoldati – worked with the Pope to implement the necessary arrangements for the LGBT event.

The pilgrimage will be officially named “Church, Home for All, Lgbt+ Christians and Other Existential Frontiers,” and will be led chiefly by the prominent Italian LGBT organization Tenda di Gionata (TDG).

They will hold a prayer vigil in the Gesù on Friday, September 5 before then passing through the Holy Door at the Vatican on the Saturday.

TDG is, as a group “aimed at making ‘known the path that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians) take every day in their communities and in the various Churches.” The group looks to present tales of LGBT “experiences” so that they “can help society and the Churches to open up to the understanding and reception of homosexual people.”

In promoting LGBT prayer events in recent years, TDG have posted a number of images including an icon of Christ backed by the rainbow flag, an icon of Christ with a rainbow colored halo, and an icon of Christ appearing as a transgender individual surrounded by individuals in modern dress.

Under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1986, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a document instructing bishops on the pastoral care of homosexual persons. The CDF admonished bishops to ensure they, and any “pastoral programme” in the diocese, are “clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral.”

Such an authentic pastoral approach would “assist homosexual persons at all levels of the spiritual life: through the sacraments, and in particular through the frequent and sincere use of the sacrament of Reconciliation, through prayer, witness, counsel and individual care,” stated the CDF.

The instruction adds:

But we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church’s teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church’s position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.

Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.

Meanwhile the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” The Catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved, and repeats that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity.”