Four Dozen Trans Women Attend Vatican’s Annual “Lunch for the Poor” – But Not At Pope’s Table

November 18, 2025 Margaret Hetherman

The 48 trans residents of a seaside town known for gangs, drugs and sex trafficking had found refuge in the Church, but this year’s reception left them on the margins.

Featured image: by Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

On Sunday, Nov. 16, 48 transgender women from Torvaianica, Italy attended a Vatican luncheon with Pope Leo XIV. The event took place during the Catholic Church’s weekend Jubilee of the Poor. It serves to welcome the hungry, the unhoused, the disabled, the marginalized, migrants and war refugees. The message: “In the midst of persecution, suffering, struggles, and oppression in our personal lives and in society, God does not abandon us.”

Unlike previous years, no trans women were seated at the pope’s head table. Many were not strangers to papal audiences, however, having first found their way to the Vatican through the outreach of Rev. Andrea Conocchia, pastor of The Church of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin in Torvaianica – a seaside community 20 miles from Rome with a reputation for mafia activity, gangs, drugs and sex trafficking.

It all started with the pandemic. According to Religion News Service, some of the trans women were sex workers who struggled during the initial outbreak, without clients or food. Many are HIV-positive, and at risk for serious illness; some are Latin American immigrants, unable to access Italy’s health care system.

In April 2022, Rev. Conocchia brought four groups of LGBTQ people to meet predecessor Pope Francis and receive medical care, following a Vatican invite. At the suggestion of the pastor, they had written Pope Francis letters, and he responded with kindness – several dozen of the women were provided with money, vaccines and in 2023 and 2024, some were invited to the annual luncheon. On both occasions, two trans women were invited to sit at the pope’s head table, where they engaged in cordial conversation.

The Rev. Andrea Conocchia talks to a small group of trans women at the Church of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin on Sept. 5, 2022, in Torvaianica, Italy. (RNS photo/Federico Manzoni)

That same community would later pray for the pontiff when his health failed. In March of this year, a devoted group of trans women gathered daily at Immaculate Blessed Virgin Church to pray for the critically ill pope who had befriended them during the dark days of COVID.

While some reporting suggests the Torvaianica women were happy that Pope Leo included trans-identifying Catholics at this year’s luncheon – and several months ago, 1,450 pilgrims attending a historic LGBTQ+ event for the Vatican’s 2025 jubilee – the event also falls against a backdrop of recently-announced news by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: transgender care is now formally banned across the vast network of U.S. Catholic hospitals.

And as much as there have been slivers of light sparking hope from both current and past popes, Pope Francis, who died in April, is on record for telling bishops at a California ad limina visit to fight gender ideology that is “repugnant to the Bible and our tradition.”

This weekend, an orchestra of 100 young people from Naples performed classical and traditional Neapolitan music with 1300 guests in attendance, who per Vatican News, included a cafeteria worker from southern Italy who lost her job after a disability diagnosis; a Somalia woman battling serious illness; and an artist who lost his house after being scammed.

The Torvaianica guests partook in the meal at separate tables: lasagna, breaded chicken cutlets with potatoes, fresh fruit from Naples and traditional Neapolitan cake soaked in syrup. According to the Washington Post, one trans woman handed Pope Leo an image of the Madonna as he entered the large dining hall to an orchestral rendition of “O Sole Mio.” He accepted the image and moved on to his table to speak to the crowd.