"Francis will consider ‘openness’ to ‘transgender people’ when naming new US bishops: report"

Two people who participated in Pope Francis’ private meeting with New Ways Ministry on Saturday have attested that the Pope committed to consider 'openness to transgender people' as a criteria for appointing new U.S. bishops.

According to Deacon Raymond Dever, who was cited in The Times, Francis was impacted by the closed-door meeting he had with LGBT activists.

The Times reported Dever – who was one of the 11 guests of Francis in the meeting – as saying that 'Francis mentioned that situations experienced by [so-called] transgender people will be more on his mind.'

Dever added that 'He [Francis] said that when he appoints new bishops in the US he will consider their openness to transgender[-identified] people as a criteria.'

The Times cited another member of the meeting who attested hearing the quoted comment from Francis.

LifeSiteNews contacted New Ways Ministry – the LGBT group that sponsored the meeting – asking if they could confirm the remarks attributed to Pope Francis, but did not receive an answer.

Held on Saturday, the meeting between Francis and the New Ways Ministry group lated nearly 90 minutes.

The guests 'urged' Francis 'to move past the Church’s negative approach' to so-called 'gender-diverse people, and to encourage Church leaders to listen more attentively' to what they called 'the lives and faith of LGBTQ+ people.'

According to Reuters – whose Vatican correspondent has close links with NWM – Francis faced 'calls to overturn the Catholic Church’s ban' on so-called 'gender-affirming care,' namely, calls to overturn the Church’s prohibition of 'sex-change' surgery."