VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis faced calls to overturn the Catholic Church’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender people on Saturday when he held talks with LGBTQ activists at the Vatican. “I really wanted to share with Pope Francis about the joy that I have being a transgender Catholic person,” Michael Sennett, who took part in the meeting, told Reuters. The meeting “means that the church is coming along, the church is joining the modern era,” she said. Gramick’s work with LGBTQ Catholics has attracted the ire of Vatican and U.S. Catholic officials for decades, including Pope Benedict XVI. But she has developed a correspondence with Francis, who first welcomed her for a meeting at the Vatican last year.

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Persons: CITY — Pope Francis, “, Pope Francis, ” Michael Sennett, Sennett, I’ve, ”, Cynthia Herrick, Herrick, ” Francis, Jeannine Gramick, Francis, Pope Benedict XVI Organizations: CITY, Vatican, Reuters, Catholic, Ministry Locations: U.S, Boston, Louis , Missouri, Vatican