Could the Vatican’s 2025 LGBTQ Pilgrimage Be a Warning Sign for the Church—or a Call to Biblical Clarity?

Something unusual is unfolding in Rome. During the 2025 Catholic Jubilee, a coalition of groups associated with LGBTQ advocacy has organized a pilgrimage that appears on the Vatican’s official Jubilee calendar, culminating in prayer events, a Mass at the Church of the Gesù, and a procession through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. Organizers have also announced a “rainbow cross” to be presented at a vigil, a decision that many Christians will read as the fusion of a biblical symbol of redemption with a modern political identity marker. What does Scripture call this moment? Is it evidence of the “falling away” warned by the apostles, or does it simply expose how urgently the Church must recover biblical teaching on sin, repentance, and grace? Most importantly, how should believers respond—firmly and gently—without compromise or contempt?

The facts are not rumor. The Italian Catholic network La Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent) is convening a Jubilee pilgrimage in Rome on September 5–7, 2025. Their published program lists an international listening session at the Jesuit Curia, an evening vigil at the Church of the Gesù in which “the Rainbow Cross” will be presented by pilgrims who walked the Via Francigena, a Saturday Mass presided over by Bishop Francesco Savino, vice-president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, and then a procession to the Holy Door at St. Peter’s, with more than one thousand participants expected (Gionata, 2025). Outreach, a U.S. ministry associated with Fr. James Martin, likewise announces the vigil on Friday, September 5 and the Savino Mass on September 6 (Outreach, 2025). And the Vatican’s official general calendar for the Jubilee lists, on September 6, a “Pilgrimage of the Tenda di Gionata Association and other associations,” confirming an officially registered presence amid Jubilee events. Registration on this calendar does not by itself imply doctrinal endorsement, but it does signal recognition (Iubilaeum 2025 Calendar).

There has also been reporting about another reform group, We Are Church (Noi siamo Chiesa), indicating they were invited by Cardinal Mario Grech to take part in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies from October 24–26, 2025, an event that will gather participants around Pope Leo XIV. Some outlets claimed there would be a special papal audience. Others clarified that while the group may attend the program, no exclusive papal meeting was promised and the invitation did not come directly from the Holy See’s top authority (Avvenire, 2025; Adista, 2025). The Vatican communications around synodality under Pope Leo XIV continue to emphasize “a missionary Church” committed to dialogue, but these initiatives exist alongside the Church’s stated doctrine on marriage and sexuality (Vatican News, 2025).

Some Christian media report the same developments with sharper language. Charisma News framed the vigil’s “rainbow cross” as a distortion of the sacred image of Christ’s sacrifice and as a false gospel that affirms what Scripture calls sin (Charisma, 2025). Commentators at New Ways Ministry, by contrast, have celebrated the events as historic signs of inclusion, while also noting the on-again, off-again handling of calendar listings in late 2024 before restoration (New Ways Ministry, 2024–2025; The Pillar, 2024).

With the headlines on the table, we turn to Scripture. The New Testament speaks with welcome and warning in the same breath. Jesus consistently invites sinners to Himself yet commands repentance, not affirmation of sin Luke 5:31–32; John 8:11. Paul expects the Church to be both hospitable and holy 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; Ephesians 4:15. He warns that in the last days many will refuse “sound teaching” and collect teachers who confirm their desires 2 Timothy 4:3. Jude cautions that certain persons will “turn the grace of our God into sensuality” Jude 1:4. Scripture calls believers to crucify desires that war against obedience Galatians 5:24 and to conform minds to God rather than to the age Romans 12:2.

Daniel 9:27 and the “wing of abominations”

Daniel’s core timetable includes a chilling detail: “He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator” Daniel 9:27. The phrase “on a wing” evokes an extremity, an out-jutting structure, a conspicuous pavilion. Many interpreters render it “on the wing of abominations,” highlighting a public, elevated display that desecrates sacred space. In prophetic idiom, it pictures the desolator arriving borne on the “wings” of brazen idolatry, enthroned by displays that convert worship into spectacle. When a cross is repainted to commend identities and practices that Scripture calls sin, are we not watching a kind of “wing” constructed for the one who exalts himself above all that is called God 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4? Parabolically put: a balcony has been built; from it, abomination waves to the crowds.

The Restrainer and the midnight trumpet

Paul speaks of a Restrainer who holds back the “mystery of lawlessness” until the appointed moment 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7. If Daniel shows abomination riding in on a “wing,” Paul shows lawlessness pressing at the door, held only by the hand of restraint. When symbols of holiness are retooled to celebrate sin in the public square, the Church should hear a trumpet in the night: the Restrainer will not restrain forever, and the Lord will call His own to Himself 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17. Are our lamps trimmed Matthew 25:1–13? Are pulpits teaching repentance with tenderness and steel Mark 1:14–15? Are we mentoring new believers to love people without lying about sin Ephesians 4:25?

Why the “rainbow cross” is not a harmless flourish

The cross is the place where Christ bore our sins and broke the power of the flesh Colossians 2:14–15. To overlay it with a symbol that actively normalizes behaviors Scripture names as sin is to blur categories that God keeps distinct, whatever one’s intention. Symbols teach. If the symbol suggests that Christian discipleship includes the unrepentant embrace of any identity that contradicts the revealed will of God, the symbol catechizes badly Isaiah 5:20. It is not unloving to say so. It is loving to be clear.

Revelation’s pattern and Rome’s moment

The seer describes a great harlot named “Babylon,” clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and pearls, drunk with the blood of the saints, seated on seven hills, wielding influence over kings and merchants Revelation 17–18. From the early church through the Reformation and into modern scholarship, readers have linked the seven hills to Rome, while also recognizing Babylon as a transhistorical symbol of idolatrous empire (Keener, 2014; Beale, 1999; The Gospel Coalition, 2020; Ligonier, n.d.). The point is not to over-name what God leaves partly veiled, but to notice the pattern: religion harnessed to appetite, public ritual masking private rebellion, merchants enriched by moral confusion. We are watching abomination step into the daylight. It is not surprising that an institution often criticized for unscriptural innovations would platform ceremonies that confuse repentance with affirmation. This is not a slur on every Catholic believer—many grieve and resist it—but a sober reading of institutional drift measured against Scripture.

And here we must speak plainly. Public endorsement of practices Scripture forbids is not pastoral breadth; it is apostasy on parade. It looks tender while it wounds the soul. It promises inclusion while it excludes holiness. It calls the sick “well” and locks the clinic. The world applauds. Heaven does not 2 Timothy 4:3; Galatians 1:8–9.

How then should we live?

Begin with the heart. Have we surrendered our desires to Christ, or are we asking Christ to surrender to ours Luke 9:23? When we speak about sin, do we remember our own, and the grace that washed us Titus 3:3–7? Do our churches combine a door that is wide open to strugglers with a path that is narrow and life-giving Matthew 7:13–14? Are we teaching what the Bible says about the body, marriage, and holiness in a way that is comprehensible to new believers Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4–6; Hebrews 13:4? Do we courageously correct public error within the Church while refusing mockery, malice, or cruelty 2 Timothy 2:24–25?

Then tend to the household of God. If a congregation or institution displays a symbol or hosts a service that confuses or denies biblical teaching, are elders willing to address it gently and firmly through appropriate channels, keeping repentance and restoration in view Matthew 18:15–17? If a communion’s structures repeatedly endorse confusion, is the Lord calling some to come out from compromised partnerships without bitterness Revelation 18:4? Are we equipping young believers to discern propaganda, recognize flattery, and love truth even when it costs them social approval 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12?

Finally, ask the midnight questions. When a cross is recolored to baptize the age, who is discipling whom Galatians 2:20? When activism borrows the Church’s language of welcome to negate the Church’s call to repentance, what gospel is being preached Mark 1:14–15? If Babylon builds a wing for abominations, will we climb its stairs—or flee to Christ Daniel 9:27; Revelation 18:4? If the Restrainer is about to “take up” the Church, are we ready to be taken up, or still decorating the world that is passing away 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7; 1 John 2:17?

This Jubilee will pass. The Word will not. The Lord is still gathering a people who confess sin without rebranding it, who carry crosses rather than repaint them, who refuse hatred but also refuse half-truths. Welcome every struggler. Preach the whole counsel of God. Test every spirit. Love without lying. And remember the ending that cannot be edited: “Come out of her, my people” Revelation 18:4.

Recommended Readings

• The Noise of the Age and the Narrow Way of the Watcher

• The Great Reversal: When the Church Becomes the Shepherd of Christ

• When the Earth Breaks and the Watchmen Sleep: A Prophetic Cry to the Wise Virgins

• The Gospel of SELF and the Death of the Cross: A Final Trumpet to a Modernized Church

• Is Damascus’ Fiery Night of 16 July 2025 the Opening Scene of Isaiah 17’s “Ruined Heap”?

• When Babel Becomes Beautiful: The Parable of Cultural Blend and the Death of Distinction

• The Silence of the Saints: Why the Church No Longer Speaks Against the Powers of the Age

Further Resources

• Explore Online Ministry Opportunities at Open Christian Ministries (USA)

• Explore Christian Business Services at the Center for Faith and Work (Rwanda)

• Pursue an Affordable Online Christian Degree at Open Christian University (USA)

• Stay updated and connect with our community by subscribing to our email list Here

• Kindly Share Your Question for Consideration in Future Articles. Click Here to Submit

• Ask a Question or Utilize Our Trained AI Bot to Craft Your Evangelical Article - Begin Here

• Access Educational Videos in Kinyarwanda at Center for Faith and Work or in English at Open Christian Ministries.