U.S. Embassy to Vatican Celebrates: Flies Rainbow Flag for Pride Month

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See began flying the LGBT rainbow flag Wednesday and tweeted in celebration of Pride Month, an innovation of the Biden administration.

This is the second year running in which the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See celebrates Pride Month, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a blanket authorization for U.S. diplomatic outposts around the globe to fly the rainbow flag on the same flagpole as the U.S. flag, underscoring support for LGBT rights.

“Today is the start of Pride Month,” the embassy stated in its tweet. “The United States respects and promotes the equality and human dignity of all people including the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Last year, Pope Francis preemptively offered an alternative, Christian message for June, urging Christians to pray during the month for young men and women preparing for marriage,.

On June 1, 2021, the pope released a video announces his prayer intention for the Church for the month of June, with the title: The Beauty of Matrimony, publicized on the website of The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

“Let us pray for young people who are preparing for marriage with the support of a Christian community: may they grow in love, with generosity, faithfulness, and patience,” the pontiff said.

“Is it true what some people say, that young people do not want to get married, especially in these hard times?” he asked in the video. “Getting married and sharing life is a beautiful thing. It is a challenging, sometimes difficult, sometimes even confrontational journey, but it is worth the risk.”

“And on this journey of all life, the bride and groom are not alone: Jesus accompanies them,” Francis added.