I am not a Catholic. I have been a disciple of Yeshua for 47 years. I am not condoning the activities of Pope Francis. I was stunned when I heard about the Pope and the transgender people, then I read this article. I have added my comments at the end.
Quoted from Associated Press, BY NICOLE WINFIELD AND TRISHA THOMAS
Updated 2:55 PM PST, November 19, 2023
Francis’ unusual friendship with the Torvaianica trans community began during Italy’s strict COVID-19 lockdown, when one, then two, and then more sex workers showed up at the Rev. Andrea Conocchia’s church on the main piazza of town asking for food, because they had lost all sources of income.
Over time, Conocchia got to know the women and as the pandemic and economic hardships continued, he encouraged them to write to Francis to ask for what they needed. One night they sat around a table and composed their letters.
“The pages of the letters of the first four were bathed in tears,” he recalled. “Why? Because they told me ‘Father, I’m ashamed, I can’t tell the pope what I have done, how I have lived.’”
But they did, and the first assistance arrived from the pope’s chief almsgiver. . .
Eventually, Francis asked to meet them.
Salas was among those who received the jab at the Vatican and then joined a group from Torvaianica to thank Francis at his general audience on April 27, 2022. She brought the Argentine pope a platter of homemade chicken empanadas, a traditional comfort food from their shared homeland.
Showing the photo of the exchange on her phone, Salas remembered what Francis did next: “He told the gentleman who receives the gifts to leave them with him, saying ‘I’m taking them with me for lunch,’” she said. “At that point, I started to cry.”
On Sunday, Salas was seated at Francis’ table in the Vatican auditorium. She said she had woken up at 3 a.m. to make him more chicken empanadas for his dinner. “They’re still hot,” she said.
For Canocchia, Francis’ response to Salas and the others has changed him profoundly as a priest, teaching him the value of listening and being attentive to the lives and hardships of his flock, especially those most on the margins.
For the women, it is simply an acknowledgement that they matter.
“At least they remember us, that we’re on Earth and we haven’t been abandoned and left to the mercy of the wind,” said Torres Lopez.
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Would you, or I do any less if someone showed up at our door hungry? These people made terrible choices (so did we) but they are still God’s children, made in His image. How would they ever find their way back to Him if we, His professing followers—sent by Him to reach the lost—reject them? It is His kindness, our kindness, that will lead them to repentance. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Did Jesus reach out to the sinners? Of course He did. He rebuked those who condemned the fallen and the broken. It is the sick who need the physician.
Let me be clear: we are not to celebrate with the unrepentant sinner. Paul made that very clear in his first letter to the Corinthians: It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2. . . But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES. 1 Corinthians 5:11-13
Paul’s message is to not associate with one who claims to be a follower of Yeshua, yet is unrepentant and continuing in his sin. However, we are not to judge those who do not claim to be followers of Lord. God will judge them. We are to love them.
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you [and others] to repentance?” Romans 2:4
Broken Hallelujah. Listen. Weep. Repent.
Faith Walking 