Pope Francis’ recent gesture of welcome for transgender Catholics has resonated strongly in a working class, seaside town south of Rome, where a community of trans women has found help and hope through a remarkable relationship with the pontiff forged during the darkest times of the pandemic.
Thanks to the local parish priest, these women now make monthly visits to Francis’ Wednesday general audiences, where they are given VIP seats. On any given day, they receive handouts of medicine, cash and shampoo. When COVID-19 struck, the Vatican bussed them into its health facility so they could be vaccinated ahead of most Italians.
On Sunday, these women — many of whom are Latin American migrants and work as prostitutes — will join over 1,000 other poor and homeless people in the Vatican auditorium as Francis’ guests for lunch to mark the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor. For the marginalized trans community of Torvaianica, it is just the latest gesture of inclusion from a pope who has made reaching out to the LGBTQ+ community a hallmark of his papacy, in word and deed.
“Before, the church was closed to us. They didn’t see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil,” said Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a Colombian transgender woman known as Consuelo, whose kitchen is decorated with pictures of Jesus. “Then Pope Francis arrived and the doors of the church opened for us.”
But they’re still going to hell according to Catholic doctrine. The ‘message of inclusivity’ didn’t change that.
I’ll still take it, though. If it makes catholics more accepting, it’s still a good influence.
Current doctrine maybe but that shit changes, slowly granted but it still does
The good news is that there’s actually no such place as hell!
Agreed, but that’s not going to help these religious women.
Which Catholic doctrine? Genuinely curious.
Well that’s honestly heart warming.
Saintly even, a story straight from the bible
The cool thing is how nobody is obliged to associate with the Catholic (or any) church.
This tells you something about how deeply religion can root itself, especially from childhood.
While outsiders may say “screw what the church says,” that may not be an option for many religious transexuals. It takes change from the top over generations.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
TORVAIANICA, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis’ recent gesture of welcome for transgender Catholics has resonated strongly in this working class, seaside town south of Rome, where a community of trans women has found help and hope through a remarkable relationship with the pontiff forged during the darkest times of the pandemic.
The menu was evidence of Francis’ belief that those most on the margins must be treated with utmost dignity: cannelloni pasta filled with spinach and ricotta to start; meatballs in a tomato-basil sauce and cauliflower puree, and tiramisu with petit fours for dessert.
They didn’t see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil,” said Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a Colombian transgender woman known as Consuelo, whose kitchen is decorated with pictures of Jesus.
Prominent LGBTQ+ organizations have welcomed Francis’ message of inclusivity, given gay and transgender people have long felt ostracized and discriminated against by a church that officially teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
After his latest statement about trans participation in church sacraments, GLAAD and DignityUSA said Francis’ tone of inclusion would send a message to political and cultural leaders to end their persecution, exclusion and discrimination against transgender people.
Claudia Vittoria Salas, a 55-year-old transgender tailor and house cleaner, said she had already served as a godparent to three of her nieces and nephews back home in Jujuy, in northern Argentina.
The original article contains 1,154 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Collective of child rapists moves goal posts as enlistment numbers drop.
PR pope is all talk. He was a homophobic bigot long before becoming pope, and was known as ultra conservative even in Argentina.
Everything he says is PR and lies. He still refuses to meet the victims of his clergy sexual abuse, he still protects pedophiles, he still sits on bank filled with blood money.
Go to the third world and see how much Catholics there are following the Pope’s call to accept LGBT people, I’ll wait
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-francis-meets-with-survivors-of-clergy-sex-abuse-in-portugal
You were saying?
Francis is the most progressive pope that’s ever been seated. How can you claim that “third world Catholics” rejecting his call for tolerance is proof that he himself is intolerant?
Oh cool 10 years on he finally meets with one group of his organisations victims.
But hey at least he washed some feet a few years ago rather than meet with the child rape victims of the organisation he is the head of.
Maybe he can go and meet the rest of the worlds victims now? He’s always so busy trying to change everything but his own organisation.
Fuck this pope and every other pope.
