Jeannine Gramick SL meets with Pope Francis in Rome

Jeannine Gramick SL and friends from New Ways Ministry, the organization she co-founded to support LGBTQ+ persons, traveled to Rome last October to meet with Pope Francis. Jeannine and the pope had been corresponding for some time, and he had expressed interest in and support for her work. When she told him she’d like to meet, he replied, “Your letter made me very happy. I will gladly meet you.” And so began her journey to Rome, along with New Ways Ministry team members Frank DeBernardo, Bob Shine and Matt Myers CoL.

When they met, Jeannine hugged the pope, who she says has a “shepherd’s heart,” and he listened attentively as she spoke about her longtime commitment to help LGBTQ+ persons, and her pain at the Vatican’s condemnation of this work in 1999. Jeannine shares that in his belief that God loves all people, the pope feels no one should be turned away from the Church. Jeannine left the meeting with the gift of a rosary with a Mother and Child medallion.

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