Transgender teacher granted audience with Pope

George White was granted an audience with the Pope at the Vatican

A transgender teacher of religious education from Leicester has had an audience with the Pope.

George White, 31, teaches at St Paul's Catholic School in Evington and was part of a group of transgender men who met the pontiff at the Vatican on 23 October.

Mr White said their visit was arranged following a conference on inclusivity in the church, where he met other transgender people who, like him, were interested in joining the Catholic priesthood.

He added: "I think being able to visibly see that trans men are there with Pope Francis means that we have a place, that we are welcome and that our stories are worth sharing."

Pope Francis said in 2023 that transgender people could be baptised as long as it did not cause scandal or "confusion".

The Vatican also released a document in April called Dignitas Infinita, which stressed the connection between body and soul, and said that sex-change intervention "risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception".

Pope Francis previously welcomed a group of transgender females to the Vatican in 2022

Mr White said: "Although very little has changed in terms of our doctrine, the pastoral approach from Pope Francis has been drastically different to that which we have seen ever before.

"He has invited transgender people to receive the Covid vaccine; he has gifted funds to communities and he has invited us to be visibly present at his audience.

"I think it's very brave and commendable, but I think it's the right thing to do."

Camillo Barone, journalist at the National Catholic Reporter publication, said the lives of Catholic transgender people "greatly vary" depending on the country they lived in.

"Although church doctrine is one centralised and decided in Rome at the Vatican, much depends on how local churches then assimilate these teachings," he said.

"According to what has been written in [Dignitas Infinita], transgender people cannot live in the Catholic church as transgender people because gender transition surgeries, according to the church doctrine, is to be considered as intrinsically disordered."

Deacon Seamus O'Looskan says he has followed Mr White's personal and faith journey for two decades

However, Mr Barone said the church’s current figurehead, Pope Francis, had "welcomed a large number of trans people" both for public and private meetings.

"So it's very important to say that unlike the other Popes, Francis at least is listening to the LGBTQ Catholic community," he said.

"He talks to them, he exchanges letters, and especially in all these exchanges, he always says 'please don't leave the church, stay with us'."

Deacon Seamus O'Looskan, 52, who is the chaplain at St Paul's Catholic School, said: "In my opinion, we are a church that should be open to people and a church which welcomes everybody, and actually, in life, people need to understand who they are and to be able to work out their own story, and that's what the church should be able to provide for people.

"Taking theological arguments out of it, Pope Francis is very clear that we are to encourage and welcome everybody."