Report: Pope Francis met with transgendered man at Vatican

From The Washington Post: 

There are reports in Spanish publications that Pope Francis has accepted a transgender person into the Vatican — and embraced him — after the man who was once a woman wrote him an anguished letter last year. The Vatican hasn’t corroborated the accounts, but it hasn’t denied them either.According to the Huffington Post, the Holy See said it didn’t have any information on the alleged gathering.

But if the accounts are true, it would be another stunning overture to another demographic the church has long held at arm’s length. “While there is no public, official position of the Catholic Church regarding people who are transgender, it would be safe to say that the hierarchy of the Church would likely forbid this ministry,” Sister Monica, who runs ministries for transgender people, told the Huffington Post.

The story begins with a man named Diego Neria Lejarraga, a bespectacled transgender Catholic who long harbored a profound sense of sadness. Residing in a deeply Catholic country, the Spaniard told the Spanish newspaper, Hoy, that his feelings of disillusionment increased with his age. “My jail was my own body,” he told the newspaper, recalling his youth. “Because it absolutely didn’t correspond with what my soul felt. I didn’t know one happy summer when I could go to the pool with my friends.”

How did he end up at the Vatican? Read the rest.