Vatican City’s 2025 Jubilee to Include a Queer Pilgrimage

Vatican City has taken another step towards inclusion towards the queer community with the planned inclusion of a queer pilgrimage during its 2025 Jubilee. According to a statement posted by La Tenda di Gionata, an Italian LGBTQ+ volunteer group sponsoring the event, its pilgrimage is expected to go on despite mixed messages from spokespeople.

The city-state had previously signaled its growing tolerance towards the queer community when Pope Francis announced that trans Catholics can still be baptized in October. Although the Pope still believes that homosexuality is a sin, the event’s inclusion is a clear sign of the increasing open-mindedness within the Catholic community, particularly within the Vatican. The event garnered much attention on social media and both positive and negative opinions were shared. “This is what happens when you don’t read your Bible. The papacy is the seat of the Antichrist,” read one scathing post on X (formerly known as Twitter.)

The pilgrimage is the first of its kind in regards to queer inclusion within the city-state. Some confusion has swirled around the existence of the event due to backlash on social media and its subsequent deletion from the Vatican’s website. However, “the event will be reinstated as soon as the organizers provide the necessary details,” says Agnese Palmucci, a representative of the Jubilee’s press office. A different member of the office had previously denied the inclusion of the event, causing the uncertainty. But according to the Vatican, the only issue taken is that more information is needed from the association before its pilgrimage can be posted on the event calendar.

The Jubilee is a year long event hosted by the Catholic Church of the Vatican and is only celebrated every 25 years It will commence on Christmas Eve with the Pope’s opening of the holy door and an evening Mass gathering. The queer pilgrimage itself will take place on September 6, 2025. Attendees will gather to celebrate the Jubilee and pass through the holy doors of St. Peter’s Basilica, historically partaking in the centuries old tradition as openly queer people for the first time.