(LifeSiteNews) — A “married” homosexual man whose adopted children received a personal blessing from Pope Francis when they were baptized in 2015 will oversee the restaurant currently being built on the grounds of the pope’s summer retreat center in Italy.
Art Smith, a celebrity chef who used to cook for Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey, will head up catering and lead the dining facilities at Castel Gandalfo, alongside Phil Stefani of Chicago’s Stefani Restaurant Group. The 135-acre complex, officially known as Borgo Laudato Si’, is scheduled to open next spring.
Smith is a longtime LGBT activist whose “husband” is artist Jesus Salgueiro. The two were inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2006. They also co-founded a food-based non-profit called Common Threads in 2001. Common Threads’ website says, “We celebrate diversity of culture with a global perspective on food … and embrace the strengths, creativity and differences of all individuals.”
Smith and Stefani were chosen by a Vatican committee while Pope Francis was still alive. They allegedly had an “audition” with Leo earlier this year where they served food to him and a small group of guests.
“This was Pope Francis’ vision to build this place, and it’s all about sustainability. Our food is going to come from the grounds. It’s about helping migrants. We’re going to teach them our business,” Stefani has said.
A ceremony announcing plans for Borgo Laudato Si’ was held at Castel Gandalfo on September 5. Catholic News Agency reports that Leo presided over a “special Liturgy of the Word in a greenhouse complex” during the gathering. Singer Andrea Bocelli, as well as Winfrey herself, were also present.
READ: Pope Leo on LGBTQ: ‘We have to change attitudes before we ever change doctrine’
The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame website includes a list of past work Smith and Salgueiro have done to advance the homosexual agenda.
“Throughout his career, Smith has participated in and contributed to many fundraisers for charitable organizations, within and outside LGBT communities, including the successful Gender PAC–sponsored celebrity cook-off benefiting the Center on Halsted,” the website reads.
“Salgueiro creates dazzling renderings of manhole covers from cities around the world; he sees his art as ‘an expression of love,’” it also adds. “The two travel together to teach cooking and art to children around the world, sharing their love and their talents in places as diverse as South Africa, Croatia, and Los Angeles.”
Leo’s embrace of his successor’s environmentalist outlook has been apparent since early on in his reign. Not only did Leo oversee the institution of the “Mass for the Care of Creation,” he told a group of French scouts this past summer that “only an inner conversion makes possible … a new way of living in communion with the environment.” Leo also spoke of the need to take care of our “common home” in his remarks.
During a 2017 interview with Jarry Mag, Smith bragged about his advocacy for lifestyles contrary to the Church’s teachings on sexuality. He also revealed that Pope Francis sent a personal blessing to each of his four adopted children when they were baptized.
“My husband Jesus Salgueiro and I are no strangers to Equality. We’ve hosted Equality Illinois, we’ve gone after Chick-fil-A, and when Barilla was nasty, I publicly denounced them and said that I’m not serving Barilla pasta in my restaurants,” he said. “In 2013, I started throwing the Big Gay Ice Cream Social at South Beach Wine & Food Festival … It was the first LGBT event ever, ever in their history. And when Equality started moving along, I hosted 101 Gay Weddings there, a mass wedding ceremony for LGBT couples.”
“When we adopted children, that put us on another plane,” he continued. “People love kids. We were the first same-sex couple in the history of the Chicago Diocese to have children baptized in the cathedral. Pope Francis, His Holiness, sent personal handwritten blessings to each child on their baptism. We’ve had the same reaction from the Mormon Church.”
Monsignor Dan Mayall, who was serving as the rector of Holy Name Cathedral at the time, performed the baptisms. Francis sent an engraved plaque bearing his apostolic blessing to each of the children. In February 2025, Mayall was accused of having abused a minor in the 1990s. Chicago’s archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich, announced in August that an investigation was conducted and that the allegation was found to be without merit.
