Trans women dress in their best to greet Francis, hailing him as 'God himself visiting us'
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The transgender community in Indonesia has hailed Pope Francis as their hero, as Jakarta's cardinal-archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo is urging his clergy to welcome transgender people in imitation of the Roman pontiff.
Rejoicing in the pontiff's four-day visit to their nation, Catholic trans women in the nation's capital wore their best – feathers, silk, glitter, long eyelashes, and a rosary around their neck – renting cars to drive to the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis at the Mass on Thursday.
"This is not the pope but God himself visiting us," Mami Yuli, a Catholic and trans-activist who sports a rosary tattoo, told The New York Times. "When we got Francis as the pope, I realized that God was really listening."
"The Pope's presence is like Jesus' presence."
"For us, L.G.B.T. people in Indonesia, there is never someone as high profile who sends a message of inclusiveness," Yuli, whose original, male name was Yulianus Rettoblaut.
"He is much braver than the other popes before him," Yuli said, standing by a small personal shrine with a statuette of Mary and a picture of Jesus. "His message is a message of love and to pay attention to the little people."
"Given his important message of tolerance, we hope the church and the people can judge us positively," Yuli reiterated to Reuters. "We endure a lot of pressure and that limits our movement as trans women in Indonesia. The Pope's presence is like Jesus' presence."
CARDINAL'S SUPPORT
Jakarta's transgender community has found a refuge in the Catholic Church due to the efforts of Cdl. Hardjoatmodjo, who has instructed priests to welcome transgender people into their parishes as part of an effort to respect human dignity.
According to Jesuit priest Fr. Adrianus Suyadi, scores of adult trans persons coming from different parts of Indonesia have been baptized in the cathedral in recent years. The cathedral holds a monthly prayer service for the community, welcoming around 50 attendees.
Narrating an autobiographical account, Mama Yuli says "she began to hit rock bottom when her parents found out she was transgendered, called waria in a fusion of the two words wanita (woman), and pria (man)."
On hearing the news of Yuli's "coming out" as transgender, the activist's parents stopped paying tuition fees two years into Yuli's economics degree at the Atman Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta.
In order to survive, Yuli dropped out of university and started to work in Taman Lawang, a public park in central Jakarta notorious for transvestite prostitutes.
"I put make-up on my face and a wig on my head," the activist recounts. "I got paid about 500 rupiah from each customer."
Yuli survived there for just four months, as competition from other transgender prostitutes was tough. Eventually, Yuli quit prostitution and became a door-to-door barber.
As a young adult, Yuli was rejected by priests, but decided to go to confession in 1996 at St. Stephen's Parish in Cilandak, South Jakarta.
"I told him everything I had done. He told me not to be afraid. He said God would have mercy on me if I really wanted to change," Yuli says. Mami Yuli began attending Sunday Mass regularly and eagerly participated in neighborhood community activities.
"Parishioners didn't have a problem with me," Yuli says.
REPENT AND REVERT
However, Abp. Johannes Maria Trilaksyanta Pujasumarta of Semarang, Central Java, expects transgendered persons to revert back to their original gender.
"The Catholic Church's pastoral stance against this minority is compassionate," the prelate insists. "We see them as human beings. We love and respect them. We give them a chance to mingle with others."
Jakarta archdiocese's social service arm, Daya Dharma Institute, has created a pastoral program for transgender persons, who number around 8,000 in the nation's capital, of which some 1,300 are Catholic or Protestant.
The project is the brainchild of Jesuit Fr. Wardjito, and endeavors to guide, support and develop the potential of transgender individuals in difficulty.
"Before, the church was closed to us. They didn't see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil."
At the stadium, the transgender persons await the arrival of Pope Francis, but are not let in because they don't have tickets. Father Suyadi told The New York Times that his proposal to the local bishops conference to let Mami Yuli meet the pope was rebuffed.
Police prevented the transgender group from standing at the stadium's entrance with their banner of Francis and colorful outfits. The group headed home even before the pope arrived.
"They cannot receive us here," said Devine Selviana Siahaan, one of the trans women who was at the stadium. "But I still can talk to Francis in my dreams."
Meanwhile, Pope Francis' highly-publicized meetings with transgender people in the Vatican have been a source of encouragement to both activists and clergy in the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia.
VATICAN WELCOMES TRANSGENDER PERSONS
In November 2023, the Vatican ensured that trans persons living in Torvaianica, a seaside town south of Rome, would be given VIP seats every month to the pope's general audiences on Wednesday.
"Before, the church was closed to us. They didn't see us as normal people, they saw us as the devil," said Andrea Paola Torres Lopez, a Colombian transgender woman known as Consuelo, whose kitchen is decorated with pictures of Jesus. "Then Pope Francis arrived and the doors of the church opened for us."
Transgender people can be godparents at Catholic baptisms, witnesses at religious weddings and receive baptism themselves, even if they have undergone hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, declared the same month.
The DDF affirmed that transgender persons, whether adults, children, or adolescents, can be baptized, provided they are "well-prepared and willing, and that there is no occasion of scandal."
In the case of doubts "about the objective moral situation in which a person finds themselves," or concerning "their subjective dispositions towards grace," the DDF proposed certain considerations.
The Dicastery noted that consideration of "the genuine value the ecclesial community places on the duties of godfather and godmother, the role they play in the community, and the consideration they demonstrate with regard to the Church's teaching" is also required.
In August 2023, Francis met with a group of men who identify as women at the Vatican and referred to them as "daughters of God," despite earlier statements he had made in 2016 denouncing trans-ideology
Pope Francis has also been highly critical of gender ideology, calling it "ideological colonization" in 2016 and "forms of ideological colonization."
Mama Yuli currently runs a shelter in Depok for over a dozen male-to-female transgender persons. The community bakes cakes and sells them to families in the neighborhood; while Yuli, after earning a degree in law, continues to earn a living as a hairdresser and from speaking at conferences.
"God uses me. He wants me to keep staying with transgender people to comfort their souls," Yuli says.
Editor's note: Discover the power and the glory of the Catholic Church
in this updated and expanded history.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.
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