Pope Leo Invites Transgender Women to Vatican 'Lunch for the Poor' — None Sat at His Table

Pope Leo Continues Francis’ Invitation but Keeps Physical Distance

Pope Leo extended the Francis-era practice of inviting transgender women to the Catholic Church's annual World Day of the Poor "lunch for the poor," but this year he did not sit with any of the trans guests. While Pope Francis previously selected two transgender women to dine at his head table, the invited guests this year were seated at separate tables elsewhere in the dining room.

Alessia Nobile, an Italian author and trans woman who attended the event, told The Washington Post that she was able to hand the pope a letter from the trans community and that he responded with a smile. "That he’d mingle, that he [sat] close to [us], that’s a good sign, right?" she said, underscoring the symbolic importance of proximity at the table for attendees.

"That he’d mingle, that he [sat] close to [us], that’s a good sign, right?" — Alessia Nobile

Observers note that Pope Leo has largely echoed Pope Francis’s pastoral tone of compassion while not altering the Church’s doctrinal positions on issues such as marriage equality or the ordination of women. His recorded remarks and actions suggest a continuity of outreach to marginalized groups without formal changes to church teaching.

At a 2012 meeting of bishops reported by The New York Times, Leo criticized Western media and popular culture for encouraging what he described as "sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel," singling out what he termed the "homosexual lifestyle" and "alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children." In a private May meeting with the Vatican diplomatic corps, he said the family is "founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman" (Associated Press). In a September interview with the Christian newspaper Crux, he reiterated that "the church's teaching will continue as it is" on marriage equality, while urging respect for people who make different life choices.

The invitation itself keeps alive a Francis-era custom of visibly including marginalized transgender women in this Vatican event. This year’s arrangement — guests present at the meal but not seated at the pope’s table — highlights how gesture and physical proximity remain powerful symbols in public ministry and signal both continuity and limits in the papacy’s public outreach.

Context: The World Day of the Poor lunch is intended as an expression of pastoral care and solidarity. Seating choices at such events often carry symbolic weight and draw public attention to how the Church balances outreach with adherence to long-standing doctrine.