A spokesperson at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization denied Wednesday that a controversial pilgrimage had ever been listed on a Vatican calendar, after the pilgrimage was removed from the online calendar earlier this week.
The spokesperson spoke in reference to a planned Rome pilgrimage during the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee Year, sponsored by Italian organization Tenda di Gionata, and planned for pilgrims who identify as LGBT.
The planned pilgrimage caused a fracas this weekend, with online commentators and news reports suggesting that the “LGBT pilgrimage” had been organized by the Vatican’s Jubilee office, or called for, approved, or directed by Pope Francis himself.
The Pillar reported on Monday that that pilgrimage was sponsored by the Italian association Tenda di Gionata, not the Vatican, but that it had been included in an online calendar organized by the Jubilee office, which catalogued pilgrimages and Jubilee events organized by dioceses, parishes, and other non-profit, pastoral, or catechetical organizations.
Soon after that report was published, the pilgrimage disappeared from the Jubilee’s website calendar, and users commented that when they clicked on the link to look at the pilgrimage, a message of “Error 404: Not Found” appeared.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, a spokesperson from the dicastery told The Pillar that “the pilgrimage is not on the website because it’s not an official event sponsored by the dicastery.”
Asked why the pilgrimage had appeared previously on the website, the spokesperson denied that it had, stating twice that the pilgrimage had not been listed on the website calendar.
The dicastery referred The Pillar to Tenda di Gionata for further information on the pilgrimage.
An archived version of the calendar posting can still be found on web archive portals, and thumbnail previews of the link still show the pilgrimage posting.
The dicastery’s Dec. 11 statement seems to contradict a statement from the pro-prefect of the Dicastery of Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who said earlier this month that the pilgrimage “is in the calendar, like many other events” — referring to the general Jubilee events calendar maintained by his office.
The event was listed in the official general calendar of the Jubilee Year, along with more than 300 other pilgrimages, which were scheduled by dioceses and Catholic institutions around the world, and officially registered with the Jubilee Year office.
The pilgrimage was listed in that calendar as a “Pilgrimage of the association La Tenda di Gionata and other associations.”
Many news outlets framed the pilgrimage as one of the many Vatican-sponsored thematic jubilee events, such as the Jubilee of Young People or the Jubilee for the Elderly.
However, although the LGBT pilgrimage was approved by the Italian bishops’ conference, it is not a Vatican-sponsored event.
The pilgrimage is instead organized by the LGBT organization Tenda di Gionata — Jonathan’s Tent — with support from the Italian bishops’ conference and the Society of Jesus. It is catered to LGBT pilgrims and will be held on September 5 and 6, 2025.
The main organizer is Fr. Giuseppe Piva SJ.
Tenda di Gionata was founded in Italy in 2018 as a volunteer project to become “more and more sanctuaries of welcome and support for LGBT people and every person affected by discrimination” and to make known “the journey that LGBT Christians (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) take every day in their communities.”
The project has faced criticism for its approach, as it uses controversial pastoral resources, such as articles that claim that the Bible does not condemn homosexual acts.
“Many biblical scholars have debunked the idea that the Bible condemns today's concept of a loving and responsible homosexual relationship, using very convincing arguments: passages that many believe prohibit homosexuality are mistranslated and/or quoted out of context,” an article says.
Neither Tenda di Gionata and Fr. Giuseppe Piva SJ could be reached for comment.
