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U.S. Embassy to the Holy See flying an LGBT flag, June 2023Michael Haynes/LifeSiteNews

ROME (LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See has once again prominently displayed the LGBT “pride” flag on the exterior of the large building it occupies in central Rome, in direct defiance of Catholic teaching on LGBT issues.

In a message issued on its social media platforms, the U.S. Embassy announced June 1 that for the month the nation “celebrates Pride Month.”

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The embassy “stands with the LBGTQI+ community against discrimination and other forms of persecution because of who they are and whom they love,” adds the message.

In the tweet, an image is displayed of the LGBT “Progress Pride” flag hanging on the outside of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See’s building.

LifeSite visited the embassy on June 2, securing its own pictures of the flag, which is also being flown on the U.S. Embassy to Italy — a separate building lying adjacent to the embassy to the Holy See.

The flag has caused a storm on social media, earning criticism from many sides. “This is an abomination,” wrote one, with another user calling the move “so disgraceful.”

Many asked the U.S. Embassy if such a flag would be flown in strongly Muslim countries, stating that “this is anti Catholic bigotry.” Idaho Republican state Rep. Heather Scott also slated the move as “pure blasphemy.”

While a number of nations — such as the U.K., Ireland, Argentina, Russia, and Taiwan — base their Holy See embassies in the vicinity of the Vatican, the U.S. embassy is more towards the center of Rome.

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The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See has displayed the LGBT flag on previous years, but this appears to be the first year that the more “inclusive” LGBT “Progress” flag has been flown. 

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also denoted his public support for the LGBT agenda, writing how “[e]very June we celebrate LGBTQI+ persons around the world and mark the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Five decades later, Pride Month reminds us of the spirit of democratic protest and that all persons are created equal.”

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See’s decision to fly the LGBT flag comes as a direct act against diplomatic principles under which embassies are normally expected to run. The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is “gravel immoral,” and thus, promotion of an activity condemned by the Church represents a strongly political statement against the Vatican. 

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1986 document on the pastoral care of homosexual persons noted that a homosexual inclination is “a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”

This was echoed later, with the catechism noting that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” The catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity.” 

“By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection,” reads the catechism.

READ: US embassy at the Vatican displays homosexual pride flag

As noted previously by LifeSite, the current U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See is Joe Donnelly, a former Democratic U.S. Senator from Indiana and self-professed “Catholic” who supports homosexual “marriage” and opposed former President Donald Trump’s ban on “transgender” individuals serving in the U.S. military.

In an interview earlier this year, he spoke about the personal importance of his professed Catholic faith and stated that religious beliefs are “at the core of almost everything we see.” 

Despite such statements, Donnelly has overseen the flying of the LGBT flags during June ever since he arrived to his post in April 2022.

LifeSite contacted the embassy to enquire about the flag but was unable to reach an official due to an Italian public holiday.

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