How Pope Francis opened the Vatican to trans sex workers
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2024
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
When Francis became pope in 2013, it was clear that he would be an unconventional pope. He was more casual than his predecessors, and often rejected the fineries of his office. In particular, he made a splash when, early on in his papacy, he responded to a question about gay priests by declaring, “Who am I to judge?”
Since then, Francis has moved to make the Catholic Church more welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, including approving the blessing of same-sex couples, and allowing transgender people to be baptized. At the same time, the Church continues to argue that homosexuality is “intrinsically disordered,” and that “sex-change intervention” could poses a threat to human dignity. But in spite of this, Francis has begun to regularly invite transgender women, many of them current or former sex workers, to meet him at the Vatican.
Rome bureau chief Anthony Faiola met a number of these women, and joins “Post Reports” to talk about how these meetings came about and the resulting backlash Francis has face from conservative clerics.
Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Earlier this year on a morning just before Easter, a woman named Laura Esquivel, traveled to the Vatican. |
| 0:14.9 | She's 57, originally from Paraguay, |
| 0:17.4 | and Laudra was with Anthony Foyola, the post-Buretor |
| 0:20.3 | in Rome. |
| 0:21.8 | They were waiting to meet with Pope Francis and Anthony |
| 0:25.8 | asked Lauda do you think he'll remember you? |
| 0:28.2 | What does it say a quarter to all? |
| 0:31.2 | Ceba quarter? |
| 0:32.2 | Yes. Ceba Corda. Ceba Corda. |
| 0:33.0 | Yes. |
| 0:35.0 | L'Aa said, yes, he'll remember me. |
| 0:38.0 | But Lauda and Anthony weren't alone. |
| 0:40.0 | Lots of people were there. |
| 0:42.0 | It was part of this weekly opportunity to see the Pope at the Vatican. |
| 0:45.6 | Typically these Wednesday audiences are held on St. Peter Square where you've got the colonnade |
| 0:52.0 | and you've got the incredible dome over St. Peter where there |
| 0:54.9 | are seagulls usually spiraling around it. |
| 0:57.8 | And you know, because there was so much rain, they moved the audience inside this vast people audience hall inside the Vatican and |
| 1:06.2 | its vastness is you know it almost feels like an airplane hangar it's that large. Laura and Anthony were seated in the front row, |
| 1:17.9 | and Pope Francis, who's now 87, |
| 1:20.9 | came out in a wheelchair. |
| 1:22.8 | His health has not been great. |
... |
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