Pope Says Church Leaders Can Baptize Some ‘Transsexual’ Catholics, Allow Some LGBT Godparents

A letter from Pope Francis provides guidelines on LGBT acceptance under church law. An American priest expects the result to be ’messy' problems for Catholics.

Pope Francis presides over the Passion of the Lord mass on Good Friday at St. Peter's basilica in The Vatican, on April 7, 2023, as part of celebrations of the Holy Week. Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images

In a November letter to Brazilian Bishop José Negri, Pope Francis laid out rules for transgender and LGBT engagement in the Catholic church.

Bishop Negri had asked the pontiff several questions on how the church should respond to transgender and homosexual-identifying individuals.