VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention this year for June, traditionally the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and proclaimed as “pride month” by LGBT activists around the world, is for “the values of sports,” the Vatican announced this week.
In the official “Pray with the Pope” video for June, Leo urged the faithful to pray for “values of sports,” making no mention of Our Lord’s Sacred Heart or the promotion of Christian morality.
The Pope’s prayer intention includes the petition “that all sport may promote peace, fraternity and communion.”
“Lord of life, we thank you for the gift of sport, for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies, for the… pic.twitter.com/Wmot19FKZn
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“Lord of life, we thank you for the gift of sport, for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies, for the friendships born on the field and the joy of playing as a team,” the pontiff prayed in the “Pray with the Pope” video.
“You teach us that in life, as in the game, no one is saved alone. We need others to grow, to learn respect, to overcome our limits, and to celebrate together the victories we achieve,” he continued. “We ask that sport may always be a school of fraternity, not of empty rivalry, a space of encounter, not exclusion, a path of peace, not violence.”
Leo’s prayer intention is peculiar especially for the month of June, including because there is no mention of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and because much of the secular world is currently celebrating “pride month.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a way for the Church to counter this promotion of sodomy and gender ideology.
Indeed, in just the first few days of June, several heterodox clerics around the world have promoted LGBT ideology. In a June 2 article for the Jesuit-run America magazine, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, called on the Church to “respect” confused children’s “gender identities,” even suggesting that they are biological, and “draw closer” to so-called “LGBTQ Catholics.” In Germany, an openly homosexual priest, Father Burkhard Hose, wrote an essay laying out a reading of Holy Scripture through a “queer” lens.
READ: US archbishop calls for ‘respect’ of children’s ‘gender identities,’ suggests they are biological
“Reading the Bible from a queer perspective essentially means approaching the texts as a source of liberation for all ways of life,” Hose wrote. “It seeks out marginalized perspectives, challenges power structures, and empowers people; at its best, it contributes to healing wounds.”
The Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” and that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “(h)omosexual persons are called to chastity.” Homosexual acts are mortal sins; therefore, anyone who commits these sins and does not repent through the sacrament of Confession is in danger of hell.
The Church also teaches that God creates every individual male or female at the moment of his or her conception and that sex is an immutable trait that “characterizes man and woman not only on the physical level but also on the psychological and spiritual, making its mark on each of their expressions.”
Furthermore, Catholic teaching condemns bodily mutilation and sterilization as “against the moral law” and denounces gender ideology.
In Leo’s very first “Pope video” for June 2025, the American pontiff urged the faithful to pray “that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from His Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.” The video also included an original prayer to Our Lord’s Sacred Heart.
During his June 3 weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square, the pope briefly mentioned the Sacred Heart twice while greeting Portuguese and Italian faithful.
“Dear brothers and sisters, in this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us approach the source of God’s mercy and tenderness, so that the Risen One may transform our heart, making it more patient, generous and compassionate. The Lord bless you!” Leo told the Portuguese pilgrims.
“In particular, I greet the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Members of the Monfortana Family and the Sisters of Our Lady of the Cenacle, encouraging them to be a sign of hope for those who thirst for God, his truth and his peace,” he told the Italian pilgrims.
Interestingly, Leo made no mention of the Sacred Heart in his greeting to English-speaking pilgrims.
Leo has also permitted scandalous, pro-LGBT activity in the Vatican and throughout the Church, including an LGBT-themed pilgrimage to the Vatican last year and a recent pro-LGBT Synod report.