VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Thousands of “LGBTQ+” pilgrims marched through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday as part of the Vatican’s official LGBT jubilee year pilgrimage.
On September 6, more than 1,000 “LGBT pilgrims,” led by a rainbow cross, many with their same-sex “partners,” dressed in rainbow colors with some waving “LGBT pride” flags, processed through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. The procession was part of the Vatican’s official pilgrimage, organized by “La Tenda di Gionata” (“The Tent of Jonathan”), a pro-LGBT group that has falsely claimed that Scripture does not condemn homosexual relationships, and joined by Father James Martin’s Outreach group.
Video of the LGBT Jubilee pilgrimage at the Vatican today, from @AP.
Bp Franceseco Savino (vp of Italian Bishops) said Mass for the group & reportedly with Pope Leo’s express approval
The group carried a rainbow cross into the Vatican pic.twitter.com/W8pBPd4ehh
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) September 6, 2025
Other images shared on social media show an unidentified pilgrim wearing a backpack that said “F*** the rules.”
“Behold the legacy of Pope Francis. Thank you, Fr. Jimmy Martin, for making sure this abomination of desolation in the Holy Place still took place despite the ‘untimely’ demise of your greatest papal ally,” Michael Matt, editor of the Remnant newspaper, wrote in an X post.
“F*ck the Rules” inside Saint Peter’s
The LGBT group La Tenda di Gionata makes their entrance into St. Peter’s Basilica today, along with several other pilgrimage groups who were on the Jubilee Year calendar. But La Tenda… claws out and F*ck the Rules… this is the New… pic.twitter.com/dc49Mr6Y3t— Michael J. Matt (@Michael_J_Matt) September 6, 2025
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò responded to the procession and pilgrimage via X with several quotes from the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich that describe a counterfeit church purporting to be the true Catholic Church.
“I saw a strange church being built against all rules… There were no angels supervising the construction work. In that church, nothing came from above… There was only division and chaos. It is probably a human-made church, following the latest fashion…”
“I saw deplorable… pic.twitter.com/qg0Wmfj6JZ
— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) September 7, 2025
Before the procession through the Holy Door, Bishop Francesco Savino, the vice president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, celebrated a Mass at the Gesù Church for the LGBT pilgrims, reportedly with the approval of Pope Leo XIV.
READ: Vatican welcomes ‘LGBT pilgrims’ as it scrubs references to SSPX pilgrimage
During his homily, Savino emphasized that this jubilee is an opportunity to restore the dignity of the “LGBT Catholics” who he falsely claimed have been oppressed by the Church, which received loud applause from the congregation:
It was the year when land was returned to those from whom it had been taken. The Jubilee was the remission of debts and the liberation of slaves and prisoners. The Jubilee was the time to free the oppressed and restore dignity to those who had been denied it. Brothers and sisters, I say this with emotion. It is time to restore dignity to everyone, especially those who have been denied it.
While it’s true that the Catholic Church teaches that all people, including those who identify as LGBT, deserve basic human dignity, the Catechism teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” and that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered.” The Catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “(h)omosexual persons are called to chastity.” Homosexual acts are mortal sins; therefore, anyone who commits these sins and does not repent through the sacrament of confession is in danger of hell.
Earlier in the week, before the official start of the pilgrimage, a special Mass was celebrated for the heterodox Fr. James Martin’s dissident Outreach group and other “LGBT pilgrims” at the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier in Rome.
WATCH: Mass celebrated in Rome for Fr. James Martin’s Outreach group, other ‘LGBT pilgrims’
According to the Outreach website, these events, which were approved last year by Pope Francis but kept on the calendar by Pope Leo, were “an official part of the Jubilee celebrations.” In December 2024, Agnese Palmucci, a spokesperson for the Vatican’s Jubilee press office, confirmed to The Pillar that the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for Fundamental Questions of Evangelization in the World “announced it on the calendar,” but added that it “did not endorse the pilgrimage.”
However, the LGBT events were officially supported by the Italian Bishops’ Conference as well as the Jesuits.
