LGBTQ+ Catholics ask Pope Francis to reconsider church opposition to gender-affirming care

A group of LGBTQ+ Catholics have called on Pope Francis to reverse the church's opposition to gender-affirming care and reconsider its views on transgender people.

The group, which also included a nun who works with queer Catholics and a doctor who specializes in gender-affirming care, had a private meeting with the pope over the weekend in which they discussed the Vatican's recent declaration on gender transitions.

“I really wanted to share with Pope Francis about the joy that I have being a transgender Catholic person,” Michael Sennett, a transgender man from Boston, told Reuters about the meeting, adding that he spoke on "the joy that I get from hormone replacement therapy and the surgeries that I’ve had that make me feel comfortable in my body."

The meeting transpired about six months after the Vatican released “Dignitas Inifinita” (Infinite Dignity), in which it referred to gender-affirming care as threat to human dignity akin to poverty, abuse, and war. It stated that attempts to deny “the sexual difference between man and woman” should be rejected, adding, “It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception."

Related: Pope Francis' (Mostly) Complete LGBTQ+ Record: the Good and the Bad

The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the World Medical Association, and the World Health Organization all agree that gender-affirming care is evidence-based and medically necessary not just for adults but minors as well.

The Vatican was sharply criticized by LGBTQ+ groups when it released the declaration, particularly over its failure to consult a single transgender person in drafting it. Cynthia Herrick, an endocrinologist from Missouri, said the group "expressed that as the church makes policies in this area that it’s very important to speak with transgender individuals."

Herrick also said the pope “was very receptive” and "listened very empathetically," sharing that "he always wants to focus on the person, the well-being of the person.”