Trans Man Who Met Pope Saw 'Kindness Personified'

http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/9/18/trans-man-who-met-pope-saw-kindness-personified

The Advocate/By Trudy Ring September 18 2015 7:00 AM EDT

"Pope Francis hasn't always had encouraging words about transgender people, but the Spanish trans man who met with Francis in January says he received nothing but kindness and affirmation from the pontiff.

"He is 'la bondad personificada,'" Diego Neria Lejárraga (pictured above) said of the pope in a new interview with People, using a Spanish term meaning "kindness personified."

Neria, a lifelong Catholic, had written to the pope last year, saying that he had become estranged from the church ever since his gender transition in 2007. "I explained how I felt pushed out to the margins of society by the faithful in my local parish of Plasencia after I underwent a sex change," he told People of the letter. "I was even called the 'hija del diablo' [daughter of the devil] by a priest in broad daylight.""

Some of the most bigoted people can seem very nice and kind in person. Too bad he wasn't quite so kind when he announced that transgender people are ineligible to be godparents because they are not living a righteous life. Spreading hate to billions of people is not undone by a few moments of kindness.

 I really wanted to like this pope, but then he asked the victims of abuse to  forgive the church I don't think I can ever do that. Catholicism poisoned  my mind with guilt and self loathing that took me decades to reconcile. His talk is nothing but platitudes.