Not Feeling Pope Francis' USA Visit

While I was in Washington DC, I discovered that I was staying a mere two blocks from St. Matthew's Cathedral, where Pope Francis is scheduled to have a private prayer event at noon with the US bishops.   St. Matthew's Cathedral FYI was where President John F. Kennedy's funeral was held after his assassination in 1963.

St. Matthew's Cathedral is also two blocks down Rhode Island Ave NW from HRC headquarters. After I noticed in the waning moments of a Thursday #OOTH2015 panel discussion news cameras rolling up and taking shots of the side of the headquarters building, I went outside and noticed this huge banner hanging on the side of the building facing St. Matthews.

While the media and many people are going gaga over Pope Francis and think he is this progressive figure vis a vis Pope Benedict  in the Catholic Church, frankly I and some of my trans kindred aren't feeling him and the hoopla surrounding the pontiff's trip and today's stop in Washington DC.

While I agree with Pope Francis on some of the things he has called out, I have a major problem with his anti-trans rhetoric. When it comes to transgender human rights issues,.many trans folks see no difference between Pope Frank and his predecessor.

We trans peeps haven't been feeling the love from the Roman Catholic Church since 2003, when Paul McHugh successfully implanted anti-trans dogma into the Vatican, and that anti-trans hate has spread to the flock.

It's difficult to nearly impossible to feel warm and fuzzy about someone who has publicly compared your very existence to nuclear weapons. and has done little to reverse or cease and desist with the anti-trans dogma contaminating the Roman Catholic church conversations about trans people since 2003.

It's even more problematic for me because I am a Christian.

Y'all and the media may consider him 'the people's Pope', but it's obvious from the Roman Catholic Church perspective that trans people aren't included in being considered people.  I'm finding something else to watch because the all pope at the time saturation news coverage is irritating me.

The anti-trans hatred preached from Catholic pulpits and uttered by Pope Benedict, Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders from the Vatican to the local parish I believe is a factor in why trans murders in Brazil, Central America and much of Latin America have exponentially increased.

And I hope the trans folks who get to meet him at the White House convey to Pope Francis and others in that room just how pissed off we trans folks worldwide are about those comments and how they contribute to anti-trans hatred and violence not only here in the US but around the world.

The rest of y'all can go swoon over Pope Francis and succumb to Popemania.   Because frankly, I'm not feeling him,    

Pope Francis, Stop Attacking Trans People!

One of the things I've been more than pissed off about is the disgusting pattern since 2003 of anti-trans rhetoric and hate speech coming from first Pope Benedict, and now Pope Francis.

Since you compared trans people to nuclear weapons, time for me to drop a truth bomb on you.

Stop demonizing and attacking trans people.  Your words are leading to the deaths of trans women in Latin America and Eastern Europe, and you need to chill with that.

Trans people are part of the diverse creation of human life, and we aren't going away or into hiding.

Instead of the church you head demonizing us, you should be first and foremost in taking the lead on trans international human rights issues, and it's disappointing to trans Catholics (if their are any left) and our supportive families, friends and allies around the world that you aren't using your voice to advocate on our behalf.

So on this Sunday morning Your Holiness, I have a simple request that I and probably other trans people of faith around the globe will be echoing when we say our prayers later this morning.

Will you stop demonizing trans people and realize that we too are created in God's image?

We'll see if that prayer will be answered.

Pope Francis-Liberal?

I'm not a Catholic, but as a Christian in the Baptist tradition and a student of history I acknowledge the large role and influence the Roman Catholic Church and its leader can have on world affairs, politics and social justice issues.

I was born during the reign of Pope John XXIII who died on June 3, a day short of me turning 13 months old.  Pope Paul VI was the one whose reign covered much of my childhood and teen years.  He succeeded the late John XXIII a few weeks later and died when I was a junior in high school.   I watched the all too brief 33 day reign of Pope John Paul I in which the conspiracy theories are abundant about his death.  He was followed by the man who held the papacy longer than anyone in my lifetime in Pope John Paul II.   He was followed by one I grew to loathe for pimping that anti-trans doctrine in Pope Benedict XVI and I cheered when he resigned.   

So now we have Pope Francis running thangs in the Roman Catholic Church.   He has been its history making leader since March 13 as the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, The Americas, South America, Latin America, and the first Jesuit priest to ascend to the papacy.

I remember having the conversation with Rev. Carmarion Anderson during the BTMI Advocacy Conference which was going on when Francis became pope.  I stayed at her house for two days of it before heading to the hotel.  One of our conversations when I was chilling at her place was about the new leader.   

While I expressed my wait and see attitude about Pope Francis, she was encouraged by what he had to say concerning refocusing the Roman Catholic Church on being concerned about the poor and inequality than their war on contraception and LGBT people. 

In the months since that conversation with Carmarion I've noted that Pope Francis ditched much of the trapping of the extravagant papal lifestyle of his predecessor.  I've gleefully noted the increased unhinged complaints and attacks from conservafool pundits aimed at this pontiff. (which is always a good sign), especially after he called out trickle-down economics, global capitalism for its greed, called for better interfaith relations with Muslims, and being concerned about income inequality.

"Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality," Pope Francis wrote. "Such an economy kills."

While I like what I see so far concerning Pope Francis, the jury is still out on just how liberal he is. 

I've always believed and my personal faith is in the thoughtful Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mode  I like religious leaders who are social justice oriented and who speak truth to power.  I tend to have respect for religious leaders in that mold who stand up for working class people, society's downtrodden people and who aren't 'scurred' to speak moral truths that piss off friend or foe.

Whether Pope Francis is that type of pontiff and continues to be one during his papal reign remains to be seen.
    . 

Italian Cardinal Gives Communion To Trans Woman At Funeral-Wingers Trip

With Pope Francis running thangs in Vatican City, is the hate on transpeople doctrine injected into the Roman Catholic church by Paul McHugh during the tail end of Pope John Paul II reign finally at an end?

As evidenced by Damian Garcia having to skip his Albuquerque Catholic high school graduation because of his transphobic archbishop was witness to, the jury is still out on that.

But on the other side of the Pond there was an interesting development taking place at the funeral of TBLG rights advocate Fr. Andrea Gallo, who passed away on May 22 at age 84 in his hometown of Genoa.  

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the Archbishop of Genoa was seen giving Holy Communion during the televised ceremony to two transwomen.  One of the transwomen in question was none other than Vladi Luxuria, who has the distinction of being the first trans parlimentarian in Europe and the second on the planet after New Zealand's Georgina Beyer.   She held that seat until the Italian elections of April 2008. 




And to the Christo haters, your problem with Vladi getting communion is?

God made transpeople, too.  Y'all need to stop tripping.


Of course the right wing Christohaters went apoplectic about it, but for the rest of us trans peeps around the world who are more than a little sick of the hate on trans people doctrine that been coming out of their mouths, the Catholic Church since 2003 and has trickled down to the flock, it was an interesting breath of fresh air that bears watching.

Pope Benedict XVI Resigning

In a announcement that was a shock to the 1.2 billion people who are Roman Catholics around the world and will set off celebrations for those of us who aren't, Papa Nazi Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign the papacy on February 28.   He cited his advancing age (85) as a reason to become the first pontiff in 600 years to step down while in office.

Never been a fan of this pontiff because of his open hostility to trans people and the increasing Paul McHugh introduced trans hate injected into Catholic doctrine during his term that has filtered down to the rest of the cardinals and the flock.

That Vatican trans hate has led to a major spike in anti-trans bigotry and anti-trans violence in many predominately Roman Catholic nations in Latin America and eastern Europe .

So I will be deliriously happy along with many of us in the trans community and our LGB allies to see him go.

The question will become as we get closer to his February 28 resignation date is who takes his place as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church?

We'll also be asking ourselves in the international trans and SGL communities will the next pope be better or worse than the person who preceded him? .