WATCH: Mass celebrated in Rome for Fr. James Martin’s Outreach group, other ‘LGBT pilgrims’ –

Fri Sep 5, 2025 – 8:20 pm EDT
ROME (LifeSiteNews) — Heterodox Jesuit Father James Martin posted a video on the social media platform X on Thursday showing part of a Mass celebrated for his dissident Outreach organization and other “LGBT Catholic pilgrims” at the Oratory of St. Francis Xavier in Rome on the eve of the Vatican’s official LGBT jubilee pilgrimage.
The Mass, which was celebrated by Father Sam Sawyer, S.J., the editor-in-chief of the Jesuit-run America Magazine, at the historic oratory proceeded the Vatican’s ongoing LGBT jubilee pilgrimage, organized by “La Tenda di Gionata” (“The Tent of Jonathan”) a pro-LGBT group that has falsely claimed that Scripture does not condemn homosexual relationships with the full approval of the Vatican. The Mass also comes just days after Martin had a private audience with Pope Leo XIV, in which the pontiff apparently told Martin he would continue to show “LGBTQ Catholics” the same openness as his predecessor, Pope Francis.
“Our group was blessed to be joined by other ‘LGBTQ pilgrims’ from around the world who heard about our Mass,” the Jesuit priest wrote on X.
Sam Sawyer, SJ, celebrates Mass at the Oratory of St Francis Xavier (aka the Caravita Center) on the second day of the @OutrchCatholic Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome. Our group was blessed to be joined by other LGBTQ pilgrims from around the world who heard about our Mass. pic.twitter.com/DRrMFPsDyi
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) September 4, 2025
On Thursday, Michael O’Loughlin, the executive director of Outreach who is “married” to another man, shared another video via X of the group being welcomed by Pope Leo during a general audience. O’Loughlin also shared a video Friday from the first official event of the pilgrimage, an “international meeting” at the General Curia, the Jesuit headquarters, entitled “Listening to the experiences of LGBTQ Catholics.”
Scenes from today’s @OutrchCatholic International LGBTQ Catholic dialogue here in Rome! pic.twitter.com/qiuDnYh6ez
— Michael J. O’Loughlin (@MikeOLoughlin) September 5, 2025
A program detailing the pilgrimage’s Jubilee events in Rome, shared by Disclose.tv, shows that this evening, September 5, a “rainbow cross” will be presented during a prayer vigil at the Piazza del Gesù in Rome by “a group of LGBT + pilgrims and their parents.”
READ: Vatican recognizes pilgrimage by LGBT group but not SSPX on jubilee website
Then on Saturday, Bishop Francesco Savino of Cassano all’Jonio, Italy, is scheduled to offer a Mass at Gesu Church, followed by the Jubilee Pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica’s Holy Door.
The pilgrimage will wrap up at St. Peter’s Square, where the pilgrims will join Pope Leo XIV for the Angelus. Per The Pillar, the LGBT events are supported by the Italian bishops’ conference as well as the Jesuits.
According to the Outreach website, these events “are an official part of the Jubilee celebrations.” In December 2024, Agnese Palmucci, a spokesperson for the Vatican’s Jubilee press office, confirmed to The Pillar that the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for Fundamental Questions of Evangelization in the World “announced it on the calendar,” but added that it “did not endorse the pilgrimage.”
Earlier this week, after a private audience with Pope Leo, Fr. Martin wrote on social media that the “message” he took from the meeting “was that Pope Leo will be continuing with the same openness that Francis showed to LGBTQ Catholics.”
READ:Silence in the face of error: Pope Leo meets with Fr. James Martin
LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen noted that Martin’s Monday morning meeting with Leo XIV represents “the nightmare scenario” he warned of at the commencement of the new papacy. “As I told Glenn Beck,” Westen stated, “a less bombastic pope could quietly cement a false new direction. The James Martin approach defies Christ, His Church, Scripture, and 2,000 years of tradition.”
This is the nightmare scenario I warned of at the start of Leo’s papacy. As I told Glenn Beck: a less bombastic pope could quietly cement a false new direction. The James Martin approach defies Christ, His Church, Scripture, and 2,000 years of tradition. https://t.co/VBt8gGOZu5 https://t.co/AU69G5Nbms
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) September 1, 2025