Pope Francis on Saturday
received in a private audience a Spanish transsexual and his
girlfriend after the man wrote to him saying he felt like an
outcast from the church in his native city, Spanish daily Hoy
reported Monday.
The transgender male, Diego Neria Lejarraga, a 48-year-old
former woman, told the pope some time ago that he had been
"marginalised" by Church officials in the city of Plasencia, in
the southwestern region of Estremadura, it said.
Francis phoned him twice in December, setting up
Saturday''s meeting in St Martha's House, the Vatican guesthouse
the pontiff lives in, Hoy said.
The pope has said the Catholic Church should be more
accepting of gays but recently failed to muster a big enough
majority of cardinals to change doctrine on the issue.
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