Funeral for Murdered Trans Woman Held at 'Pope's Church'

A trans woman whose family never memorialized their daughter was given a funeral last week at Pope Francis's church, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Andrea Quintero, 28, had told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in a recent interview that she fled persecution in Colombia for a better life in Italy, but she ended up living on the streets. Previous beatings had left one arm paralyzed and she walked with a limp.

Then in July her body was found alongside railroad tracks, having been beaten to death. Her murderer has not been caught.

Until now, no funeral was held because the family gave no orders. NCR reports that the Church of the Gesu in Rome -- which is considered "the mother church of the pope's Jesuit order" -- worked with a Jesuit-run charity, Centro Astalli, to hold a proper funeral on Friday.

Centro Astalli's director, Father Giovanni La Manna, told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that the funeral is "a signal to the entire community of Rome, which looks away from those who are discriminated against and who live their difficult lives against the indifference of our city."

Found via RawStory, watch video below of the Corriere della Sera interview. It's conducted in Italian but translation isn't needed to see what life was like just one week before Quintero's death: