Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of
more than 1.6 billion Roman Catholics, will hold his first public
meeting with a married gay rights activist.
The meeting will take place during the
pope's upcoming visit to Paraguay next month.
According to BuzzFeed
News, Francis will meet with Simon Cazal, executive director of
LGBT advocate SOMOSGAY. Cazal married Sergio Lopez, who is also
involved in the group, in 2012 in neighboring Argentina, the first
South American nation to legalize such unions.
Cazal was invited to participate in a
roundtable discussion with the pope and other civil society leaders
being organized by the committee of the Paraguayan bishops'
conference.
Lopez said that the church's invitation
came as a surprise.
In April, SOMOSGAY announced a campaign
asking the Catholic Church to respect LGBT people in Paraguay.