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Pope Francis to Meet With Gay, Transgender Prisoners

Pope Francis to Meet With Gay, Transgender Prisoners

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Inmates from a unit for gay, transgender, and HIV-positive people will be among those Francis meets with in Naples Saturday.

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Pope Francis will have lunch Saturday with 90 inmates at a prison near Naples, Italy, including 10 from a unit reserved for gay, transgender, and HIV-positive people, reports Religion News Service.

The pope requested the lunch, which was not originally on his schedule for the trip to Naples. "Francis has made an outreach to detainees a signature part of his ministry to the 'marginalized,'" the news service notes. He intends to take time to meet with each prisoner individually.

The lunch will take place at the Giuseppe Salvia Detention Center in Poggioreale. Some of the attendees will come from two other nearby prisons, RNS reports. The 90 were chosen by lottery from among 1,900 inmates.

Continuing his ministry to prisoners, Pope Francis plans to was the feet of inmates at a prison near Rome on Holy Thursday, April 2, as he did shortly after his election, RNS notes. This commemorates Jesus washing the feet of his apostles on the night before his crucifixion.

Francis's tenure as pope has also been notable for his adoption of a more conciliatory tone toward LGBT people than that of his predecessors, although he has also made some less positive statements -- for instance, criticizing nontraditional family structures and the concept of gender fluidity. And his papacy has seen no policy changes on LGBT issues.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.