Pope receives Spanish transsexual

(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 26 - 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.