Archbishop of Milan offers Mass for LGBT group on feast of Sacred Heart

MILAN (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Mario Delpini of Milan, Italy, celebrated a Mass for an LGBT lobby group on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

On June 12, Delpini presided over a Mass organized for members of the Italian LGBT lobby group “Il Gruppo del Guado” at the Church of San Carlo al Lazzaretto in Milan, according to a report by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.

“The Lord has bound Himself to you and has chosen you, not because you are the most numerous of peoples – in fact, you are the smallest – but because He loves you,” Delpini said during his homily.

The Mass was organized by Il Gruppo del Guado, a Milan-based group founded in 1980 that describes its mission as “providing spiritual accompaniment and fellowship for homosexual Catholics.” Promotional material for the liturgy featured a church decorated with rainbow colors and highlighted that the celebration would take place on the feast of the Sacred Heart.

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Images and comments from attendees circulated on social media after the Mass. One participant published photographs showing a T-shirt depicting Jesus wearing rainbow-colored clothing alongside the words “Ah Men,” a phrase intended as an erotic play on the liturgical word “Amen.” The same participant stated on Instagram that he repeated the phrase while receiving Holy Communion from Delpini’s hands.

In October 2025 the Italian Bishops’ Conference published a synodal document explicitly inviting the Church in Italy to support civil observances “against homophobia and transphobia,” like so-called Pride month in June, and other events organized by pro‑LGBT associations, including those that are not Catholic.

The synodal document, titled Lievito di Pace e di Speranza (“Leaven of Peace and Hope”), adopted pro-LGBT terminology and encouraged educational programs on sexuality and gender identity for minors and referenced the “recognition” of identification as homosexual and transgender.

It also anticipated the controversial Vatican Study Group 9 report, published last month, according to which sin “does not consist in the same‑sex couple relationship.”

In his 2024 encyclical Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis reinterpreted the devotion to the Sacred Heart under an emotional and sentimental aspect.

Part of his reinterpretation included presenting the heart as “what is most inner in humans, animals, and plants” – a synthesizing function shared by all creatures. Biblically, however, the heart is the seat of the will, ordered by the intellect illuminated by faith, not a center of emotional synthesis. In particular, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to be adored and imitated because it reflects the will of Christ, who is “meek and humble of heart,” precisely because He totally surrendered to the will of the Father.