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CV NEWS FEED // The Vatican’s official Jubilee 2025 website recently removed a page detailing an LGBT-specific pilgrimage event scheduled for Sept. 6, 2025, following public backlash.
The pilgrimage, titled “Church, Home for All, LGBT+ Christians and Other Existential Frontiers,” was being organized by the Italian LGBT association Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent) and was initially listed as part of the official Jubilee calendar.
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Italian journalist Franca Giansoldati, writing for Il Messaggero, first reported the inclusion of the event on the Vatican calendar. As of Dec. 10, Vatican officials removed the event from the official website. An archived version of the webpage for the event on the Jubilee calendar can still be viewed here.
The pilgrimage was planned to begin with a prayer vigil Sept. 5 at the Church of the Gesù, a historic Jesuit church in Rome. The following day, participants were to pass through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. According to Il Messaggero, Jonathan’s Tent was set to lead the event.
Jonathan’s Tent continues to advertise the event on its website, noting that the Vatican had accepted its request for an official pilgrimage for “LGBT+ believers, their families, and their pastoral workers.”
Jonathan’s Tent is known in Italy for promoting LGBT ideology within the Church and society in the name of “inclusion.” According to LifeSiteNews, the group has also promoted LGBT prayer events featuring blasphemous icons of Christ with rainbow-colored halos and flags.
The Jubilee initiative was conceived by Jesuit priest Fr. Pino Piva from Bologna and received the approval of Pope Francis, according to Giansoldati. Key Church figures, including Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and Father Arturo Sosa, the Jesuit superior general, also supported the event. According to Giansoldati, Fr. Sosa described the pilgrimage as “a good thing.”
The Dicastery for Evangelization, which oversees Jubilee events, has not commented on the pilgrimage’s inclusion. A Dicastery spokesperson claimed to Reuters that the calendar’s listing did not imply official support or sponsorship. Il Messaggero reported that Monsignor Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery and Jubilee director, worked closely with Pope Francis to arrange the event. ANSA reported that Msgr. Fisiscella stated to them in comments on the event, “Everyone is welcome.”
On Dec. 11, The Pillar reported that in a phone interview, when the news outlet asked a Dicastery spokesperson why the Dicastery had listed the pilgrimage previously on the Jubilee website, the spokesperson “denied that it had, stating twice that the pilgrimage had not been listed on the website calendar.”
CatholicVote has reached out by email to the Dicastery to ask if it wishes to retract the denial but has not yet received a reply.
