Vatican Hosts Historic Jubilee Event for LGBT Catholics

“Everyone is welcome. They are on the calendar like many others.” The Vatican, through Monsignor Rino Fisichella, the organizer of the Holy Year, confirms the historic step. For the first time, a specific event will be dedicated to Catholic homosexuals and LGBT people. The initiative was launched by the Tent of Jonathan, an association founded in March 2018, which in the past had denounced “homophobic incidents,” even the interruption of a “rainbow” mass by groups of “reactionary fanatics.” In the context of the Jubilee, it hopes that the music will truly change, although after the last synod held in the Vatican, rather than continuing on the path of open doors for all, many hopes have cooled. The initiative, blessed not only by the Pope but also by the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is positively commented on by other associations. “Any initiative aimed at welcoming LGBTQIA+ people and overcoming the obstacles they encounter in fully exercising their rights, including those of a spiritual life, can only be welcomed by us with applause and enthusiasm. However, in times when narratives often prevail over facts, we would not want this story to overshadow the many evidences that still tell us of religious worlds, in this case the Catholic world, hostile to LGBTQIA+ people and daily engaged in spreading discourses and actions of hatred concerning our subjectivities,” said Gabriele Piazzoni, general secretary of Arcigay, to Ansa. “It is evident to all,” he adds, “the overlap, especially in politics and particularly in this government, between the Catholic representation and those who, in fact, deny the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. Catholics are still today the most hostile politicians to the exercise of our freedoms, as well as many freedoms related to the dignity of people and self-determination over their bodies, from end-of-life issues to voluntary termination of pregnancy. And these remain facts that are difficult to overcome with a pilgrimage, however welcome and positive in itself.” The Trans Movement, for its part, hopes that “the pilgrimage is not just for show,” as Roberta Parigiani, political secretary of the Trans Identity Movement, states, “the contrast and openness to listening must be a daily act.” Rosario Coco, president of Gaynet, echoes: “Starting from the Jubilee,” he invites, “let's shelve the rhetoric of Gender and reach a clear position against conversion practices and the criminalization of homosexuality and trans people around the world.” The day of September 6th is nevertheless announced to be dense and full of promises. It will be preceded in the evening by a vigil, the next day crossing the Holy Door is scheduled, followed by a mass in the Ignatian church of the Gesù, right in the center of Rome, where a pastoral service for LGBT people has been active for some time. Here, pilgrims will be welcomed with their parents. The issue of homosexuality in the Church, despite the jubilee event on the program, remains pure dynamite as the recent synod has brought to light, on which many German and American reformists focused, determined to modify the Catechism where it speaks of “an objectively disordered inclination,” whose acts are contrary “to natural law as they preclude the sexual act from the gift of life.” On several occasions, Pope Francis has shown great openness towards homosexual people, receiving them in the Vatican, helping groups of trans people during Covid, but at the same time, he has always spoken out clearly against the “gay lobbies,” as well as against the entry into seminaries of boys with this sexual identity, and in this sense, the speech delivered a few months ago to a group of Roman parish priests, where he reiterated that if a young person has this tendency, it is better not to let him enter even if they are “good boys.” During the closed-door meeting, he also let slip a homophobic term (“faggotry”), which he later corrected and mitigated with other significant openings, for example, the authorization to give blessings to gay couples who request it, despite the outcry that the document Fiducia Supplicans had raised. Several cardinals and entire episcopates opposed and decided not to follow those pastoral indications. Now this Jubilee reshuffles the cards and tries to take another step forward for the “field church” to heal many wounds.