How a Parish Was Transformed by the Presence of Trans Women

Today’s post is from guest contributor Elisa Belotti who is a freelance journalist based in Italy. She covers human rights and marginalized communities, with a particular focus on the impact of religion on society.

It was almost by accident that Father Andrea Conocchia, pastor of the Blessed Immaculate Virgin parish in Torvaianica, a town just outside Rome, Italy, started a vital ministry for the local transgender community, offering economic, medical, spiritual and emotional support to trans women, many of whom are sex workers and undocumented. His work became known widely after it became known that Pope Francis’ almoner (charity giver) was supporting these women. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing him recently about his work.

How did your outreach to the LGBTQ+ community, and in particular trans women, begin?

Don Andrea Connocchia chats with trans women at his parish.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, there was a line of almost 350 people gathered in front of the parish every morning. They asked me for food and I helped them one by one.

A couple of days after even the churches had to be closed, an Argentinian trans woman named Paola showed up. She asked if I could help her too, like I did with the other people. Of course I said yes, without even thinking about it. The next day she brought another trans woman and on the day after another one and so on until we had a group of 150 trans women.

I had never met trans people before. At first, I didn’t even realize they were trans. It was they – when felt safe to open up – who taught me one step at a time. I met beautiful people, rich in traditions, families and the journeys they’ve made.

When the first four Argentinian trans women asked for help from Pope Francis’ charity office, I won’t say I felt fear, but I did have a little bit of worry. I wasn’t sure whether the Pope’s generosity could reach trans people and sex workers. Then, I was astonished when I got the first delivery of aid. I had never seen such generous financial support in the parish before. The Pope’s help has been considerable. It became a real education for me from a human, spiritual, pastoral and ecclesial point of view.

Who are the trans women you have met over the years?

The trans women who ask for help in the parish are all sex workers. Most are from Latin America (Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil and so on). I realized their lives are very tough. Most of them left their families between the ages of 8 and 11, thrown out by their parents, often violently.

One told me that, as a child, she used to write in a diary about her feelings for boys. One day, she came home from school and found her mother with that diary in her hands. Her mother said: “In this house, I’d rather have a drug addict or a convicted felon than a f*ggot. The girl packed and disappeared. Many of the trans women who were rejected at such a young age survived thanks to the street and sex work.

Today many of them leave home around 2 p.m., head to places like the pine grove in Ostia and work the street until 2 a.m. They often face violence and humiliation. They have been hit by rocks or rotten eggs and vegetables. Sometimes when they get into a car, they wonder where they might end up. Most of them injected industrial silicone, that you can buy in hardware stores, into their bodies.

Two of the women who have been in the parish during  these years have lost their lives. Naomi was choked in 2022, while Lilly has been found in 2024, in pieces, in the pine grove in Ostia. Thanks to the charity of the Pope we could pay for and celebrate their funerals, and send Lilly’s body to Peru. Naomi instead rests in the local graveyard because her family didn’t want her even when she was dead.

What kind of support do you offer to trans women?

At the Vatican, Pope Francis greets the trans women from Don Connochia’s parish

First of all they have benefited from Pope Francis’s generosity and now Pope Leo XIV’s. We asked the Dicastery for the Charity Services for help, sending them letters in which some trans women in Torvaianica told their life stories. In response, we received Covid and flu vaccines, medical visits, tickets to shows, etc. All opportunities that otherwise they couldn’t access, often because many are undocumented or have documents that are damaged or not corrected.

They also attend an Italian class for foreigners and, thanks to a lawyer that comes to the parish once a month, a good number of them regularize their status, applying for asylum or residency permits.

Moreover, once a month, we host a community meal for everyone in need. Out of about 100 guests, around 60 are trans women and sex workers. They come to the parish for a safe meal and a moment of dialogue and belonging. I also added a second meal, that includes a moment of shared prayer, reserved for trans women.

A group of Argentinian trans women from the parish asked if they could meet Pope Francis to thank him personally. Thanks to Sister Geneviève Jeanningros, who was a close friend of the Pope, we met him for the first time on April 27, 2022. Then we met with him weekly until the last audience on February 12, 2025. It started from this group’s wish, and then other trans people joined from all over the world. At the first meeting one of them asked me: “Are we really important to the Pope? Are we precious?”.

Some fellow priests are surprised by what has been going on in the parish since 2020 and ask me if I am ever shocked or scandalized. But I believe that thanks to these trans women our community is richer and more Catholic, because it reflects the reality of “everyone, everyone, everyone”.

–Elisa Belotti, July 3, 2025