WelCom September 2020
In the latest sign of papal outreach to the transgender community, Pope Francis has written to an old friend in Argentina to say that he is praying for her and the women who will move into a new condo complex she built to help transgender women living in poverty.
The complex has 12 studio apartments and is part of a permanent housing solution for around a dozen transgender women who are living in poverty. It was inaugurated in Neuquén, Argentina, by a Discalced Carmelite nun, Mónica Astorga Cremona, who is the superior of her community in Neuquén. Astorga Cremona, who has ties with Pope Francis going back to his time as archbishop of Buenos Aires, said she received a letter from the Pope backing the initiative.
According to the nun, she had written to the Pope telling him about her new housing complex, and received a reply telling her that, ‘God who did not go to the seminary or study theology will repay you abundantly’ for the work she has done.