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September 8, 2025
Trying to get accurate information about the LGBTQ Catholic participation in the Holy Year Jubilee can be frustrating. Misinformation and disinformation abound, but in the end the consensus was these disaffected Catholics did not get want they wanted—a big shout-out from the pope. It never happened.
“Did Pope Leo welcome LGBTQ Catholics at Jubilee events?” Putting this question in a search engine yields a response from AI (Artificial Intelligence) that says, “Pope Leo XIII did not specifically address LGBTQ issues during his papacy.” True enough. Pope Leo XIII died in 1903 at a time when transgender persons barely existed.
On a second try, accessing a different search engine, more misinformation was given. “During the Jubilee events, Pope Leo met with diverse Catholic groups including the LGBTQ community.” Wrong. He did not.
AI was twice mistaken, but when seasoned journalists get it wrong, that is more serious.
CNN said the Jubilee was “the first officially recognized pilgrimage of LGBTQ Catholics to Rome.” PressReader.com is a widely used digital newspaper platform, and it reported that “LGBTQ+ Catholics” participated in “a Vatican-sanctioned event that many had believed impossible.” These are examples of disinformation—intentionally distorting the truth.
The Washington Post noted that when “the gay jubilee” began, “many participants said they would be disappointed to leave without a public gesture from Leo.” It correctly noted that it was not forthcoming. The New York Times reported that “Pope Leo XIV did not individually welcome the contingent [of LGBTQ Catholics] at a Jubilee audience on Saturday morning, as he did with some other groups in attendance.”
CBS News and Fox News quoted Vatican officials as saying that being listed in the Jubilee calendar of events was one thing, but they hastened to add, “They are not sponsored activities.”
The National Catholic Reporter, which is pro-LGBTQ and is opposed to the Church’s teachings on sexuality, said of this contingency that it “is not explicitly endorsed by the Vatican—nor will participants receive a dedicated papal audience as other groups have.” CBS News also said when the pope addressed the Jubilee audience on Saturday, he “made no special mention of the LGBTQ+ Catholics.”
The queer Catholic group responsible for organizing this contingency is La Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent), an Italian LGBTQ association. It drew the support of Outreach, DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry.
An internet search of the principal organizer turned up bizarre results. Trying to access information on Jonathan’s Tent was nearly impossible. “The page you are trying to reach no longer exists, or has been removed.” Typing in “La Tenda di Gionata” was a little better, but no less puzzling. A page appears saying that it was founded in 2018 by Don David Esposito, “a prematurely disappeared priest.” That’s an odd way to say he’s dead.
We know more about Outreach. It was founded by Father James Martin, who ministers to these people. He openly rejects the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, taking great umbrage at the Catholic Catechism for saying that the homosexual inclination, and homosexual acts, are “intrinsically disordered.” He wants that changed to “differently ordered” people, thus normalizing homosexual behavior.
On the website of DignityUSA, a Catholic queer group, it says that one of its goals is to seek changes “to harmful church teachings on gender and sexual orientation.” New Ways Ministry, one of the boldest groups that publicly rejects the Church’s teachings on sexuality, likes to make a fetish of our bodies. It is advertising an event in October called, “Honoring Our Bodies.”
There are Catholics who are struggling with their “intrinsically disordered” orientation who want to be chaste. Courage is the name of a Catholic ministry that was founded explicitly to serve them. It is not the kind of ministry that wins the applause from any of the aforementioned rebel groups.
The Catholic Church welcomes everyone, but it does so on its terms, not on terms that are subversive of its teachings. That would be suicidal.
Pope Leo is trying to bring unity to the Church. There are times when that can be tricky. He does not want to humiliate anyone, but he also wants to be honest. Prudence is the most cardinal of the cardinal virtues, and his exercise of it is exemplary.
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