In a historic first this weekend, LGBTQ+ Catholics joined the church’s Jubilee Year pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, a once-every-25-year ritual that grants a “plenary indulgence” to participants.

“I can’t imagine this happening before Pope Francis or before Pope Leo,” Jesuit Friar James Martin, the founder of LGBTQ+ ministry Outreach, told The Catholic Reporter. “I think it’s pretty historic.”

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Pope Francis, who died in April, designated the theme of this year’s Jubilee “Pilgrims of Hope.” An estimated thirty million Catholics will make the journey to Rome over the year-long celebration, which began on Christmas Eve 2024.

More than 1,400 LGBTQ+ pilgrims from 20 countries made the pilgrimage to Rome this weekend, taking part in prayer vigils, masses, and other spiritual events. Many were moved to tears as they passed through the Holy Door to St. Peter’s, an entrance to the basilica opened only for Jubilee Year observances. The procession traditionally symbolizes reconciliation.

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The Vatican walked a fine line in its endorsement of the LGBTQ+ pilgrimage. Their participation, organized by Italian advocacy group Jonathan’s Tent, was included in the Vatican’s official Jubilee calendar, but Vatican officials stressed the listing was logistical rather than an endorsement.

“It ensures organizers and pilgrims alike can plan accordingly,” said a spokesperson for the Vatican’s evangelization office.

“You could say it’s semi-official,” said Friar Martin, who met privately with Pope Leo last week on his own trip to Rome. Martin described that meeting as “very consoling and very encouraging.”

“He wanted to continue with the same approach that Pope Francis had advanced” Martin said of Leo’s embrace of the LGBTQ+ community. “It was very much a hopeful message of continuity.”

At a packed mass service at Rome’s historic Chiesa del Gesù, the largest Jesuit church in the city, Bishop Francesco Savino delivered a homily that emphasized Jubilee celebrations are meant to restore hope to those on society’s margins. The remarks drew a standing ovation from the congregation of more than 1,000.

Pope Francis was the first and only pontiff chosen from the Jesuit religious order. He made history with his inclusive message for the LGBTQ+ community, declaring all people — “Todos, todos, todos” — should be welcomed by the Church. Francis endorsed blessings of LGBTQ+ couples and hosted transgender women at the Vatican.

“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family,” Francis said in 2020. “They are children of God. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it.”

“Not only are LGBTQ people marching and walking to say that they’re part of the Church,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of LGBTQ+ ministry New Ways, of the Jubilee pilgrimage first, “but official Church institutions are welcoming them and helping them to tell their stories.”

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