They will be attending Pope Francis’ Audience on Ash Wednesday morning, March 1, and Ash Wednesday liturgies later that day, including an ecumenical celebration at the Jesuits’ Caravita Oratory.
They will also be welcomed at Caravita for Mass on the 1st Sunday of Lent, March 5, when the retired Anglican Bishop of Salisbury, David Stancliffe will preach.
The LGBT+ pilgrims will also celebrate Mass at Cardinal Vincent Nichols titular Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, and at the Gesù, the mother-church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), accompanied by Fr. David Stewart SJ.
LGBT Catholics Westminster are based at London’s Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, Mayfair.
They will meet with members of Rome’s LGBT Catholic group, Nuova Proposta, and hear from Rome-based journalists about their experience, reporting and ‘keeping-up with Pope Francis’.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has, once again, sent a message to the group saying:
“The year of Mercy has been a wonderful experience. Within the Catholic community there has been a rediscovery of the depth of the mercy that Our Blessed Lord extends to each one of us. In many places there has been a remarkable increase in the number of people celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for it is in the forgiveness of our sins that God’s mercy is most powerfully experienced. Anyone who says they are without sin is deceiving themselves.
In our society, too, there is a great need for the understanding of God’s mercy and of His forgiveness. Many live as if sin had no reality. Yet the plethora of television shows which centre on the settling of rows and the need for mutual understanding and forgiveness is clear evidence that we are in need of His mercy if our human nature is to be healed. The witness of the Gospel of Mercy stands in contract to a public culture which is so often lacking in forgiveness.
This, then, is an excellent time for you to be making your Pilgrimage to Rome. Not only is the Church still absorbing the fruit of the Year of Mercy, but together we stand at the beginning of Lent.
I pray that this pilgrimage will bring you all nearer to the Lord, to His call to be faithful witnesses to His unfailing love and mercy, and to the integrity we need in order to follow faithfully the pathway of the Lord and of the beauty of the Gospel. In this, the teachings of the Church are always a sure guide, urging us on to greater effort, to taking those next steps in our journey of faith and trust. Only Jesus can bring us the joy and fulfilment for which we all yearn. Let us be close to Him.
Be assured of my prayers for each and every one of you. Please pray for me at the tombs of St Peter and Paul, and at all the holy places you visit.”
God Bless you all.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
For more information about LGBT Catholics Westminster, click here: