A community of trans women has found support and hope in TORVAIANICA, Italy ( AP ), a working-class seaside town south of Rome, where Pope Francis ‘ recent welcome gesture for transgender Catholics has resonated strongly. This relationship with the pontiff was forged during the pandemic’s most trying times.
These ladies now make regular visits to Francis ‘ Wednesday public audiences, where they are given VIP seats, thanks to the local church pastor. They receive freebies of medication, money, and detergent on any given time. The Vatican bussed them into its medical center when COVID-19 struck so they could receive vaccinations before the majority of Italians.
To commemorate the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor on Sunday, the women—many of whom are Spanish American immigrants and prostitutes—joined over a thousand different underprivileged and poor people for lunch in the Vatican hall.
It was just the most recent sign of addition for Torvaianica’s disadvantaged trans community from a pope whose commitment to reaching out to the LGBTQ+ community has become ingrained in both his words and deeds.
The restaurant was proof of Francis’s conviction that those who were least fortunate should be treated with the utmost respect: cannelloni pasta with spinach and ricotta to begin, meatballs with tomato-basil soup and broccoli puree, and dessert with petit fours for dessert.
It was just the most recent sign of addition for Torvaianica’s disadvantaged trans community from a pope whose commitment to reaching out to the LGBTQ+ community has become ingrained in both his words and deeds.
The temple had previously been closed to us. According to Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a Brazilian trans woman by the name of Consuelo whose house is adorned with images of Jesus,” they did n’t see us as ordinary citizens, they saw the devil.” ” After that, Pope Francis showed up, and the church doors opened for us.”
Francis ‘ most recent effort was a report from the Vatican’s theory office that claimed transgender people could occasionally be baptized and serve as guardians and testimony in weddings. It came after the bishop himself recently made the suggestion that same-sex people might be granted church blessings.
Both times, the novel pronouncements overturned the Vatican theory office’s 2015 and 2021 total bans on same-sex blessings and transgender people serving as godparents, respectively.
Francis ‘ most recent effort was a report from the Vatican’s theory office that claimed transgender people could occasionally be baptized and act as godparents and wedding witnesses.
Given that the church that formally teaches that queer functions are “intrinsically disordered” has much felt ostracized and discriminated against, prominent LGBTQ+ companies have embraced Francis ‘ message of equality.
Francis has changed his stance to extremely make it clear that all —” todos, too, so much,” is a child of God, is loved by God and pleasant in the chapel, starting with his well-known” Who am I to determine” comment in 2013 about an ostensibly gay priest and his claim in January that “being homosexual is no crime.”
The rest of the Catholic Church does not always share that judgment-free place. The new synod of priests and laypeople at the Vatican backed off language that explicitly called for inviting LGBTQ+ Catholics. Cardinals and other traditionalist Catholics have vehemently criticized his strategy.
GLAAD and DignityUSA claimed that Francis ‘ develop of inclusion would urge political and cultural leaders to stop persecuting, excluding, and discriminating against transgender people in light of his most recent remarks about trans participation in church ceremonies.
It served as a more personalized information to the Torvaianica trans society, providing concrete evidence that the bishop was aware of them, had heard their stories, and wanted to inform them of their membership in his religion.
For trans women like herself, being a grandparent is the closest point she will ever have to having her own child, according to 46-year-old Brazilian sex worker Carla Segovia. She claimed that the new expectations helped her feel more confident about possibly one day fully regaining the devotion she was baptized in but abandoned after coming out as transgender.
It served as a more personalized information to the Torvaianica trans society, providing concrete evidence that the bishop was aware of them, had heard their stories, and wanted to inform them of their membership in his religion.
She stated that” this Pope Francisnorm brings me closer to finding that total serenity,” which she believes is required to fully reconcile with the trust.
Three of Claudia Vittoria Salas ‘ nieces and nephews were godparents to her back home in Jujuy, northern Argentina, according to 55-year-old trans tailor and housekeeper Claudia. She cried out in pain as she thought back to paying for her godchildren’s education with the money she made from her previous woman job.
As her words broke, she remarked,” Being a caregiver entails taking the place of the mother or father, it’s no fun.”
” When the parents are n’t around, you have to pick the right people who will be capable of sending the kids to school and giving them food and clothing.”
When one, two, and then more intercourse workers showed up at the Rev. during Italy’s tight COVID-19 lockdown, Francis developed an unexpected connection with the Torvaianica transgender community. Andrea Conocchia’s temple on the principal square of the city was begging for food because they had run out of money.
She stated that” this Pope Francisnorm brings me closer to finding that total serenity,” which she believes is required to fully reconcile with the trust.
As the pandemic and economic difficulties persisted, Conocchia got to know the people better and encouraged them to read to Francis to ask for what they needed. They wrote their papers one evening while seated around a stand.
He recalled that” the websites of the characters from the first four were bathed 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 key almsgiver, who afterwards accompanied the women for their COVID-19 vaccinations, provided the second assistance. Many of the people lacked access to the vaccination and were not legally permitted to reside in Italy at the time the pandemic occurred.
Francis finally asked to meet them.
Salas joined a class from Torvaianica to congratulate Francis at his basic viewers on April 27, 2022, after receiving the jab at the Vatican. A dish of baked chicken empanadas, a classic comfort food from their shared country, was brought by the Argentinian pope.
Salas recalled Francis ‘ next action, which she displayed on her phone:” He told the gentleman who receives the gifts to leave them with him, saying” I’m taking’em with me for lunch,” she said. ” I started to cry at that point.
Salas was seated at Francis ‘ table in the Vatican auditorium on Sunday. She claimed that in order to prepare him more meat empanadas for his breakfast, she had gotten up at 3 a.m. They’re also attractive, she said.
For Canocchia, Francis’s reaction to Salas and the others has fundamentally altered him as a priest, teaching him the importance of paying attention to and listening to the lives and struggles of his congregation, particularly those who are most marginalized.
For the ladies, it’s just a recognition that they’re important.
Torres Lopez remarked,” At least they remember us, that we’re on Earth and have n’t been abandoned and left to the whims of the wind.”
