Pope Francis will reportedly lunch Saturday with gay, transgender and HIV positive prison inmates as part of a day trip to Southern Italy.
The Italian news site Vatican Insider reported
the pontiff will lunch with about 90 prisoners, including 10 from a
prison ward that houses those inmates. The report said the prisoners won
their spot in a special raffle.
The one-day trip to Naples will also include a visit to the city’s poorest neighborhood, still a stronghold of organized crime.
The visit and luncheon echo one
of the central messages of Francis’ papacy. "Do not be afraid to go and
to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even
to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent," Francis said in 2013.
Francis, Vatican watchers say, continues to reach out to groups who previously felt judged or disenfranchised by the Church.
In February, the Vatican installed bathrooms and showers for the homeless in St. Peter’s Square last month.
Coming
back from a gathering in 2013, the pope spoke about homosexuality to
reporters. "If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge
them? They shouldn’t be marginalized. The tendency [to homosexuality]
is not the problem…they’re our brothers."
The pope's remarks should not be seen as softening the church's stance on gay marriage, however. In January, Francis criticized
“ideological colonization of the family," which a Vatican spokesman
later confirmed was at least in part a reference to gay marriage.
The
trip will include a stop at nearby Pompeii. Plans for fireworks to mark
the pope’s visit have been scrubbed as a sign of respect for victims of
the recent terrorist attack in Tunisia.
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