Pope Francis seated across from Claudia Vittoria Salas, in grey, who is part of the trans community in the city of Torvaianica
Pope Francis welcomed a group of transgender people, with whom he has formed an ongoing marriage, to a dinner at the Vatican last year marking the religion’s World Day of the Poor.
Some 1, 200 people who live in poverty or are unhoused joined Francis for a food inside the apostolic market house, at tables reminiscent of the Synod council held in that same place next month. The Associated Press reported on one distinctive class of dinner friends: transgender women from just outside Rome, many of whom are sexual workers and workers from Latin America:
” Thanks to the native parish priest]in the Roman city of Torvaianica], these ladies now make regular visits to Francis ‘ Wednesday public audiences, where they are given VIP seats. On any given time, they receive handouts of treatments, funds and shampoo. When COVID- 19 struck, the Vatican bussed them into its health service so they could get vaccinated back of most Italian…
” ‘ Before, the temple was closed to us. They did n’t see us as ordinary citizens, they saw us as the lord,’ said Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a Brazilian transgender person known as Consuelo, whose home is decorated with photos of Jesus.’ Therefore Pope Francis arrived and the gates of the chapel opened for us.’
Part of what Pope Francis to opened those doors was a new direction from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith which said transgender people, including those who clinically move, may be accepted for communion and serve as relatives. The advice, known officially as a responsum advertising affiliations, was praised by LGBTQ+ activists. The trans people of Torvaianica were also pleased:
” Carla Segovia, a 46- year- ancient Brazilian sex worker, said for trans women like herself, being a godparent is the closest thing she will ever get to having a child of her own. She said that the fresh standards made her feel more secure about maybe one day returning completely to the belief that she was baptized in but fell apart from after coming out as transgender.
“‘ This rule from Pope Francis brings me closer to finding that absolute peace,’ she said, which she feels is needed to be entirely reconciled with the belief.
” Claudia Vittoria Salas, a 55- yr- ancient transgender tailor and house cleaner, said she had previously served as a godparent to three of her nieces and nephews up home in Jujuy, in northeastern Argentina. She choked up as she recalled that her income from her previous job as a woman put her godchildren through class.”
The connection between Pope Francis and this party of transgender girls dates to 2020, when they sought aid from Fr. Andrea Conocchia because the epidemic prevented them from working. Conocchia and the women requested help from the pope, which the city’s small parish was unable to completely supply, as Bondings 2.0 previously reported. according to AP:
He recalled that the first four letters ‘ pages were covered in grief. Why? I ca n’t tell the pope what I did or how I lived because they told me,” Father, I’m ashamed.” ”
However, they did, and the pope’s main almsgiver, who afterwards accompanied the women for their COVID-19 vaccinations, provided the second assistance. Many of the people were n’t legally permitted to live in Italy at the time the pandemic occurred, and they also had no access to the vaccine.
You can watch a video interview with several of the people from Reuters here, in which they discuss Pope Francis’s influence on their lives in moving detail.
The pope made a remark about how LGBTQ+ issues came up at the Synod council last month in relevant information. Francis was asked by an Italian broadcaster Ray recruiter if he was happy with the way gay people were discussed. Francis responded:
” When I say “everyone, people, everybody,” it’s the individuals. Everyone is welcomed by the church, and it does n’t inquire as to who you are. Therefore, everyone develops and matures within the temple in their Christian identity. It’s true that talking about this now is a little touch in style. All is welcomed by the chapel.
The World Day of the Poor dinner last week demonstrates how Pope Francis’s need for a loving church transcends words. And as the testimonies of the trans women in Torvaianica demonstrate, his efforts to include everyone would have a significant impact. Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a female participant, said:
At least they are aware that we are still here on Earth and have not been abandoned to the whims of the storm.
November 22, 2023, Robert Shine ( he/him ), New Ways Ministry
Papers that are related
Italy’s transgender girls thank Pope for making them feel “more people,” according to Reuters.
