Over 1,400 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Catholics and their supporters from around 20 countries on Friday converged on the Vatican for a pilgrimage officially included in the Church’s Jubilee Holy Year programme.
TheNewsGuru.com(TNG) reports that La Tenda di Gionata (The Tent of Jonathan), an Italian association organised the gathering to advocate for inclusivity within the Church.
This marks the first time an LGBTQ-focused pilgrimage has been formally recognised in the Jubilee calendar. Participants, however, were not scheduled for a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.
The pilgrims joined millions of others in the traditional walk to Saint Peter’s Basilica, stepping through the Holy Door as part of the Jubilee rites. They held a prayer vigil, on Friday followed by a Saturday morning mass at the historic Church of the Gesù in central Rome.
Among them was 68-year-old Yveline Behets, a transgender woman from Brussels, who trekked 130 kilometres along the ancient Via Francigena route with 30 others.
“We are not just outsiders who are welcomed sometimes, we are part of the same family,” she told AFP.
Hugo, a 35-year-old pilgrim from Quebec, called the initiative “a really important signal” for inclusion within the Catholic community. He expressed hope that it would encourage more Catholics “on the fence” to embrace LGBTQ members.
For centuries, the Church has defined marriage strictly as a union between a man and a woman and described same-sex relationships as “intrinsically disordered.”
While Pope Francis, who died in April, took steps toward a more welcoming Church — including authorising blessings for same-sex couples in 2023 — the move faced backlash, especially in conservative regions like Africa.
His successor, Pope Leo XIV, has reaffirmed the Church’s stance on marriage but upheld Francis’s decision on blessings.