Pope Francis Emphasizes Radical Inclusion, Calls Trans Women “Daughters of God”

Pope Francis has made LGBTQ-inclusive remarks in two recent interviews, one released during World Youth Day last week, and one shortly after the event.  In both instances, the pope reiterated his constant message that the church must welcome everyone.

During his five days at World Youth Day program in Lisbon, the pope led young people in the chant “todos, todos, todos!” (“everyone, everyone, everyone!”) to emphasize inclusion and welcome.  As he often does, Francis took questions from journalists on the return flight to Rome. Given his persistent message of inclusion, one journalist asked the Francis how would explain the “inconsistency between an open Church and a Church not equal for all?”

In other words, this journalist explained, if the church really does welcome everyone, why “at the same time not everyone has the same rights, opportunities, in the sense that, for example, women, homosexuals cannot receive all the sacraments.” Vatican News reported the pope’s response:

“You ask me a question that concerns two different points of view: the Church is open for everyone, then there is legislation that regulates life inside the Church. He who is inside follows the legislation. What you say is a simplification: ‘They cannot participate in the sacraments.’ This does not mean that the Church is closed. Everyone meets God on their own way inside the Church, and the Church is mother and guides everyone on their own path. That’s why I don’t like to say: everyone comes, but you, this one, but the other one… Everyone, everyone in prayer, in inner dialogue, in pastoral dialogue, looks for the way forward.

“That’s why I ask the question: Why not homosexuals? Everybody! And the Lord is clear: the sick, the healthy, old and young, ugly and beautiful… the good and the bad!

“There is a kind of gaze that doesn’t understand this insertion of the Church as mother and thinks of it as a kind of ‘corporation’ that you have to do this, or do it in this way and not another way, in order to get in to.”

Francis also said that pastoral ministry is different than simply welcoming individuals, for it involves “accompanying people step by step on their way to maturity.” He opposed restrictions or reductions on who could participate in the church by comparing these approaches to an ancient heresy:

“I don’t like reduction. This is not ecclesial; it is gnostic. It is like a Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today. A certain Gnosticism that reduces ecclesial reality, and that doesn’t help. The Church is ‘mother’ receiving everyone, and everyone makes their own way within the Church, without publicity, and this is very important. Thank you for the courage of asking this question. Thank you.”

The Gnostic heresy flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Gnostics promoted the idea that only certain elite individuals had secret knowledge (gnosis) of God’s ways.

During the World Youth Day event, the Spanish magazine Vida Nueva published an interview it had conducted with Pope Francis. The interview was wide-ranging, covering everything from the war in Ukraine, the pope’s health, seminarians’ formation, and a potential Vatican III.

At one point, the pope referenced his outreach to transgender women as an example of choosing to pursue dialogue and encounter, even though he faces opposition for doing so. The pope explained:

“Dialogue with everyone is something that Jesus taught us. Furthermore, when one closes himself to dialogue, it is a sign of weakness, it reflects that he does not have enough faith to believe in the strength of the Gospel. The power of the Gospel is for everyone. It is a principle that moves me a lot and that is my philosophy. Jesus says: ‘Go and bring everyone to me, healthy and sick, just and sinners.’ To all. And here they all come. If the Church does not do what Jesus taught it, it is not the Church. Everyone has to feel inside, to be welcomed inside. We cannot give up on that, because the Lord taught us.

“For this reason, I am not worried that some will throw in my face that I receive [transgender people] in the general audience on Wednesdays. They come from the hand of Sister Geneviève Jeanningros, a French nun of the Little Sisters of Jesus of Carlos de Foucauld dedicated to the circus ministry. The first time [the trans group] came and saw me, they left crying, saying that I shook their hand, gave a kiss… As if I had done something exceptional with them. But they are daughters of God! [God] still loves you just like that, just the way you are. Jesus teaches us not to set limits.”

The joint chant of Pope Francis and thousands of young people for “todos, todos, todos!” sends a powerful message, just as the pope’s meetings with transgender people have done. In less than two months, the church’s next global event will occur as the Synod assembly gathers in Rome. Let us pray that the echoes of “todos, todos, todos!” will reverberate in the Vatican’s halls, too.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, April 8, 2023

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National Catholic Reporter, “Pope doubles down on message that church is open to all, including LGBTQ people and women”

Reuters, “Pope says Church open to everyone, including LGBT people, but has rules“