Bishop on LGBTQ+ Pilgrimage: “In the heart of the Gospel, no one is excluded.”

Bishop Francesco Savino

When the LGBTQ+ pilgrimage for the Vatican’s Jubilee Year takes place on September 6th, the spiritual journey will begin with a Mass presided over by Bishop Francesco Savino, who called the event “a prophetic act,” saying that “In the heart of the Gospel, no one is excluded.”

In a recent interview with the Italian Catholic LGBTQ+ website  Progetto Gionata, BishopSavino– of Cassano all’lonio and vice president of the Italian bishops’ l conference– spoke passionately about his upcoming participation in the event  organized by La Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent), the group that maintains Progetto Gionata. He will celebrate mass on September 6, 2025 at the Church of the Gesu, the starting point of the mile-long pilgrimage walk to enter St. Peter’s Basilica through the Holy Door, open only in Jubilee years. 

According to Savino, his decision to pray with the LGBTQ+ communnity flows simply from his commitment to the Gospel and the ministry of Jesus:

“The Eucharist. . .is a womb that welcomes, and not a fence that rejects; It is a house with always open doors, where the cornerstone is love without condition. It is in the encounter of the faces and in the sharing of the bread that the Church finds its original vocation: to be not a fortress for a few, but tends for everyone, capable of inhabiting the suburbs of the soul and history.

“That’s why this moment is not only a liturgical celebration: it is a prophetic act, a sign that announces to the world that in the kingdom of God there are no ‘guests’ and ‘hosts’. There are only sons and daughters, summoned to the same canteen, transformed by the only love that saves.”

For Savino, participating in the LGBTQ+ jubilee pilgrimage is a reflection of his pastoral posture which “recognizes a brother in every face, in each story a sacred page worthy of being read with respect.” It proceeds naturally from his wider pastoral vision, which has been marked by accompaniment, listening, and a commitment to inclusion. 

He hopes the pilgrimage Mass will make visible and concrete his belief that the Christian community is truly for all people, wherein each individual is fully embraced:

“It is therefore not a question of ‘hosting’ someone in the house of the Lord,but of recognizing that everyone is already full inhabitants. The Eucharist, the center of this celebration, thus becomes not the prize reserved for the few, but the bread of communion that reconstituted the dispersed human family. In this sign there is the prophecy of a church that lives not to keep a temple, but to be a living temple: where every stone is a face, each column is a story, and each door is open to the infinite embrace of God.”

This Mass, and the larger pilgrimage of which it is a part, make this vision a reality. LGBTQ+ Catholics, their loved ones, and their ministerial partners represent both the Church itself and the Church’s Gospel-inspired mission.

In speaking of his hopes for the event, Bishop Savino noted the power of the event to send a clear message of change:

“This event, in its deepest essence, it is like a bell that sounds in expanse in the deafening silence of the exclusions: a clear, strong and irreversible signal that reminds us that the Gospel is not a manifesto for a few elected, but a love letter addressed to the entire human family.”

And in that sense, Savino likewise views this event as a reminder to the entire Church of our ecclesial identity: a Church that welcomes, listens, and heals. “If the Church does not embrace these children,” he asserts, “it is not the church of the Gospel.” 

—Phoebe Carstens, New Ways Ministry, August 20, 2025

Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director, will be representing New Ways Ministry at the pilgrimage and will be writing about the experience here on Bondings 2.0.

For all of Bondings 2.0’s previous posts about the LGBTQ+ pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year, click here.