Pope invited trans women over for a pasta & meatballs dinner

Pope Francis during lunch with the poor on the occasion of the VII World Day of the Poor in the Paul VI Hall on November 19th, 2023. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Im

Pope Francis has made strides in the Catholic Church’s acceptance of transgender people over recent months, but recently took a dramatic step to ensure that his message was being received.

A group of transgender women with a history of personally interacting with the Pontiff were invited to join 1000 other poor and homeless guests for lunch to mark the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor. The women were treated like VIPs, with one, a former sex worker, seated at the table with the Pope.

The Vatican released a document earlier this month said that transgender people and people in same-sex relationships can be baptized and serve as witnesses at weddings. Trans people can also be godparents as well.

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“Being a godparent is a big responsibility; it’s taking the place of the mother or father. It’s not a game,” Claudia Vittoria Salas told the Associated Press. “You have to choose the right people who will be responsible and capable when the parents aren’t around to send the kids to school and provide them with food and clothes.”

Salas, a tailor and house cleaner, was the godparent to three of her nieces and nephews in her home country, Argentina. She did sex work to put the children through school.

The women’s relationship with the Pope developed during the pandemic when they appealed to the Church for help at the urging of the local priest. Local funds were depleted, but the church provided the women with food and other assistance.

Assistance quickly came from the Pope’s chief almsgiver, who also made sure the women were vaccinated against COVID. Many of the trans women were Latin American immigrants and ineligible to get the vaccine in Italy, so the church gave it to them directly.

Francis, who is Argentinian, asked to meet the women himself to offer them comfort and support. They now attend the Pope’s general audience monthly and are given VIP seating.

“Before, the church was closed to us. They didn’t see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil,” Consuelo, a Colombian transgender woman, said. “Then Pope Francis arrived and the doors of the church opened for us.”

To publicly indicate that the poor must be treated like the richest, the group dined on cannelloni pasta filled with spinach and ricotta plus meatballs in a tomato-basil sauce and cauliflower puree. They were served tiramisu and petit fours for dessert.