<p>In the newly released book <em>Pope Francis: This Economy Kills</em> Pope Francis is quoted as saying that the concept of gender as a spectrum can be compared to the destructiveness of nuclear weapons. He talks about &ldquo;the gender theory that does not recognize the order of creation.&rdquo; He calls it &ldquo;a new sin that against God the Creator.&rdquo; While this is a rough English translation and while there is no explicit mention of transgender people some have read this as a strong statement against the transgender/gender transgressive community and against the social and medical science that seeks to help explain their experience.</p> <p>DignityUSA is deeply concerned that this kind of rhetoric from our Church&rsquo;s leader can be inflammatory and could lead to increased pain and difficulties for transgender people intersex people and others who do not fit into traditional categories of female and male. Too many people will hear the Pope&rsquo;s words as justifying violence or discrimination against these individuals. Already transgender and other gender variant people face levels of violence homelessness job discrimination depression and suicide attempts at levels much higher than others. The Pope has a responsibility not to fuel this kind of religiously-justified bigotry.&nbsp;More he should call for an end to the violence and discrimination against them.</p> <p>We are hopeful that Pope Francis&rsquo; meeting with Diego Neria Lejerraga a transgender man from Spain in January 2015&mdash;several months after the interview recounted in this book&mdash;was a transformative experience for him. It is possible that hearing about this man&rsquo;s struggles and journey to becoming the person God created him to be brought the Pope to greater understanding of the realities faced by many. We hope that he can come to see that it is not God&rsquo;s creation that is being challenged but the limited ways in which some humans have understood gender.</p> <p>It is crucial that faith leaders and others educate themselves about the needs and gifts of transgender people. There will be several transgender and intersex individuals and family members on our Pilgrimage to the World Meeting of Families in September 2015. We urge Pope Francis to make meeting with us a priority during his time in the U.S.</p>