Pope Leo XIV Breaks Bread with Trans Activists: A Jubilee of Inclusion

This Sunday, the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall will be the stage for a meal that’s more than just a feast—it’s a statement. Pope Leo XIV, the newly elected pontiff, will sit down with Alessia Nobile and four other transgender women for a special luncheon during the Jubilee for the Poor, an annual event that brings together the Church’s most vulnerable members for Mass and a communal meal. For LGBTQ+ Catholics, this gathering is a powerful symbol of hope, resilience, and the ongoing push for a Church that truly sees and embraces all its children .

Alessia Nobile, a 46-year-old transgender activist from Bari, Italy, has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights within the Catholic Church. Her journey has been marked by both rejection and redemption. As a teenager, Nobile faced secret “exorcism” rites from a school religion teacher and pressure from her family to consider electroshock therapy. Despite these traumas, she remained a devoted Catholic and later wrote about her experiences in her memoir, *La bambina invisibile* (The Invisible Girl) .

Nobile’s relationship with Pope Francis was transformative. After their first meeting in 2022, Francis became a mentor and friend, urging her to share her story to combat prejudice. He ensured she sat in the front row at papal audiences and even wrote her a handwritten letter affirming God’s unconditional love. Nobile described this gesture as “unrepeatable” and a testament to Francis’s commitment to pastoral closeness over judgment .

With the passing of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV, Nobile and other LGBTQ+ Catholics are watching closely. The new pope’s statements on LGBTQ+ issues have been mixed. In 2012, he criticized entertainment media for its “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” including the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.” He has also stated that the family is “founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman” and has criticized same-sex blessings. However, he has also said that the LGBTQ+ community “aren’t bad people” .

Despite these mixed messages, Nobile remains hopeful. She sees her invitation to the Jubilee luncheon as a sign that the new pope intends to stand with those on the margins. “I hope this will be an opportunity to speak to him and ask him not to backtrack on rights,” Nobile told Italian media. She also expressed her desire for the Church to remain a home for all, “no one excluded” .

The event is unprecedented in placing a transgender advocate at the pope’s luncheon. For many, it is a continuation of Pope Francis’s legacy of outreach to marginalized people. Nobile’s presence is a reminder that the Church’s commitment to inclusion and dialogue is not just a matter of policy but a lived reality for those who have long felt excluded .

The Catholic Church teaches that every person, including those who identify as transgender, possesses inherent dignity as a child of God and must be treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. At the same time, the Church holds that human identity includes a God-given sexual nature that is not self-determined and does not accept the idea that gender can be separated from biological sex. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has stated that “any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception” .

For Nobile and other LGBTQ+ Catholics, the tension between these teachings and the lived experiences of trans people is a source of both pain and hope. The Jubilee luncheon is a moment to bridge that gap, to affirm that the Church is a place where all can find belonging, and to remind the new pope that the journey toward inclusion is ongoing.

As Nobile prepares to sit at the table with Pope Leo XIV, she carries with her the hopes and dreams of countless LGBTQ+ Catholics. Her story is a testament to the power of faith, resilience, and the enduring belief that, in the eyes of God, we are all His children .