Sign up for The Agenda, Them’s news and politics newsletter, delivered Thursdays.

Pope Leo XIV will meet and dine with a group of trans women, including Catholic trans activist Alesia Nobile, during a Vatican lunch this Sunday, November 16.

On November 8, Nobile confirmed to the Italian outlet La Stampa that she had been invited to a lunch with Leo on Sunday, November 16, for the Jubilee of the Poor. The event, which is said to be “unprecedented,” coincides with World Day of the Poor and includes both a Mass and lunch with the pope.

“I hope this [lunch] will be an opportunity to speak to him and ask him not to backtrack on rights,” Nobile told La Stampa.

Nobile previously shared a friendship with the late Pope Francis, which she said “changed everything.”

“Pope Francis immediately became a light in my journey as a believer,” she told the outlet. “The Holy Father always wanted the front row for us transgender women. Every Wednesday during the audience, he would stop by to greet us, even when he was already suffering.”

When asked what she would like to say to Leo, Nobile replied, “I would say to him, ‘I’m Francis’ friend, do you want to be the father of all of us transgender women?’”

Leo, who ascended to the papacy in May as the first U.S.-born Pope, is viewed by many as a successor to Francis’ relatively progressive legacy. Leo has been skeptical of LGBTQ+ reforms in the past and declared that marriage is “between a man and a woman” earlier this year, although he also confirmed that the Church will continue to offer blessings to same-sex couples on a “case-by-case basis.” These blessings are not equivalent to marriage rights, and Leo’s adoption of the practice follows a precedent set by Francis.

However, even before inviting Nobile and other trans women to dine with him, Leo has demonstrated a willingness to meet with LGBTQ+ Catholic advocates. In September, he met with Fr. James Martin, a New York-based Jesuit priest, author, and longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. After his meeting with Leo, Martin wrote on X that he was “moved to hear the same message I heard from Pope Francis on LGBTQ Catholics, which is one of openness and welcome.”

Meanwhile, in October, Leo received pro-LGBTQ+ Catholic reform organization We Are Church during church celebrations, marking the first time that the group attended the Vatican “in this form.”

Nobile told La Stampa that Leo’s “silence on the LGBTQ+ community doesn’t scare me.”

“They say ‘silence is consent,’” she said. “I’m sure that Pope Leo shares Francis’s work and is just waiting for the right moment to embrace our reality. And I feel in my heart that that moment is near… Although in a different way and style, Leo XIV will continue to walk in Francis’ footsteps and will reach out to us. I’m certain of it.”

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.