Transgender prostitutes in Italy are praising Pope Francis for a statement the Vatican made November 9, which said transgender people could be baptized into the Church in certain situations, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
The Vatican said transgender people could be Godparents and baptized as Catholics “if there are no situations where there is a risk of causing a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful.” The Vatican had barred transgender people from becoming godparents in 2015. Additionally, the United States Catholic Bishops released a statement in March stipulating Catholic hospitals must not perform sex change surgeries.
The Vatican reportedly gives the transgender prostitutes medicine, cash and shampoo. During the pandemic, the Vatican gave the transgender prostitutes preferential access to COVID-19 vaccines. according to The AP. (RELATED: A ‘Progressive’ Minority Is Pushing Female Ordination, LGBTQ Issues During Catholic Annual Meeting, Advocates Say)
“Before, the church was closed to us. They didn’t see us as normal people. They saw us as the devil,” one transgender person, Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, said. “Then Pope Francis arrived and the doors of the church opened for us.”
The Vatican said that transgender people can receive baptisms, expanding the Catholic Church’s acceptance of LGBTQ members.https://t.co/xk08ashIGH pic.twitter.com/uQSXqk0ubf
— The Hill (@thehill) November 12, 2023
Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland was abruptly removed from his duties Sunday in the Diocese of Tyler, after the bishop made statements online claiming Pope Francis was “undermining the Deposit of Faith.” Strickland criticized the Pope for his perceived stances and comments on gay and transgender Catholics, divorce, abortion and gay marriage.
Pope Francis has suggested it’s possible for the Church to give blessings to same-sex couples in a letter to cardinals in July. The Catholic Church still defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
The Pope called gender ideology “dangerous” in an interview in March, since it “blurs differences and the value of men and women.” He said in a 2015 book gender theory considers”man like an accident, like a problem to eliminate.”