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submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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.”

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[-] Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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?

[-] Deceptichum@kbin.social -5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentine-child-abuse-victims-urge-pope-francis-hear-their-grievances-2023-03-09/

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.

this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
102 points (83.6% liked)

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