The Pope Ate Pasta Alongside Trans Women at the Vatican This Weekend
It’s the latest in Pope Francis’ gestures of trans inclusion.
On Sunday, Pope Francis hosted lunch for 1,200 poor and homeless people, including several trans women, many of whom are Latin American migrants and sex workers. The Associated Press reports that the lunch — cannelloni pasta filled with spinach and ricotta, followed by meatballs in tomato-basil sauce, and tiramisu for dessert — was held in recognition of the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor.
“We transgenders in Italy feel a bit more human because the fact that Pope Francis brings us closer to the Church is a beautiful thing,” Carla Segovia, a 46-year-old sex worker from Argentina who attended the lunch, told Reuters. “Because we need some love.”
Francis’ lunch comes days after the Vatican declared that trans people can now be baptized and become godparents, so long as doing so doesn’t pose the “risk of generating a public scandal or disorientation.” The statement, which was approved by Pope Francis in late October, admittedly leaves significant room for interpretation, since it doesn’t clarify what constitutes such a scandal.
“Before, the church was closed to us. They didn’t see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil,” Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a trans woman from Colombia, told AP. “Then Pope Francis arrived and the doors of the church opened for us.”
