Pope Leo XIV invites transgender women to the World Day of the Poor lunch at the Vatican. He continues Pope Francis’ tradition of inviting trans women to the lunch, but not the tradition of sitting with them, according to The Advocate. The tradition began in November 2023 with Francis selecting two of the women to dine at the head table with him.
The women sat at separate tables this year. Alessia Nobile, an Italian author, gave Leo a letter on behalf of the trans community, according to The Washington Post.
“That he’d mingle, that he (sat) close to (us), that’s a good sign, right?” Nobile says. She also claims that Leo gave a smile when receiving the letter.
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Leo’s stance on the LGBTQ+ community has fluctuated throughout the years without a definitive declaration. Earlier this year, he said marriage is “between a man and a woman” during a meeting with the Vatican diplomatic corps. However, in 2012, he stated having “enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.” As bishop, he also objected to plans teaching gender in school, saying that “the promotion of gender ideology is confusing because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.” Then, in 2023, he expressed that he “did not fully endorse or reject” the idea of Francis’ blessings of same-gender couples.
Leo had previously supported Francis’ “call for a more inclusive church and said he didn’t want people excluded just on the basis of their lifestyle,” the AP reports.
Medias Touch Network has stated that Leo “has voiced compassion for the LGBTQ community” and “while while he may foster a more welcoming environment, he has not signaled any openness to changing Church teaching on same-sex marriage or the ordination of women.”
“I’ve already spoken about marriage, as did Pope Francis when he was pope, about a family being a man and a woman in solemn commitment, blessed in the sacrament of marriage,” Leo says of same-gender unions. “But even to say that, I understand some people will take that badly. That doesn’t mean those people are bad people, but I think it’s very important, again, to understand how to accept others who are different than we are, how to accept people who make choices in their life and to respect them.”
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