A group of trans women were personally invited to have dinner with Pope Francis just over a week ago. This comes on the heels of a groundbreaking decision to allow transgender people to get baptized.
As part of the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor, it is customary for the Pope to invite poor and homeless guests to the Vatican for a meal. This lunch was particularly notable, though. Among the roughly 1200 invited were a group of trans women, including sex workers, who were treated as VIPs and even sat at the same table as the Pope. These women had developed a relationship with the pontiff over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, ever since he assisted them when they were unable to work.
Earlier in November, the Vatican released a document which stated that transgender people, as well as people in same-gender relationships, could get baptized. Trans people were also allowed to serve as witnesses in weddings and become godparents. This was part of a recent move by Pope Francis to make the Church more welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals. For instance, he recently suggested that in certain cases, same-gender unions could be blessed, reversing a previous statement by the Church in 2021. In his own words, “The church is a mother and calls together all her children.”
This most recent move by the Vatican to validate queer identities was met by stiff opposition from the more conservatives members of the Church, such as Joseph Strickland, the Texas bishop recently fired by Pope Francis himself. But to hundreds of transgender, Catholic Christians, the news is life-changing. Claudia Victoria Salas, a trans woman and former sex worker who found herself seated opposite the Pope, says, “This is a fantastic opportunity for us transsexuals. I send the Pope a big kiss!”
Image courtesy of gaycatholicpriests on X
