The Vatican is denying claims by a French man that he received a personal call from the pope telling him, “Your homosexuality — it doesn’t matter,” The Local reports. Christophe Trutino, a 25-year-old sales representative from Toulouse, said he sent a letter to the pope about his struggle with religion and homosexuality. Then, he says, the pope called him.
“He said, ‘Christopher? It’s Pope Francis.’ I was unsettled, of course. I asked, ‘Really?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ I know it’s hard to believe, but it really happened like that. From that moment on, I no longer doubted,” Trutino told the French paper La Dépêche du Midi.
“Your homosexuality — it doesn’t matter. One way or another, we are all children of God. This is why we must continue to be good,” Trutino said the pope told him.
The French paper says it was skeptical about Trutino’s claim and asked him if he had recorded the conversation or had a record of the number from which the call was made. The paper says Trutino did have the number, which, upon verification, apparently corresponds with the Vatican’s main line.
But today, Vatican spokesman Father Lombardi denied that the call ever happened. The Vatican would not confirm if it ever received Trutino’s letter.
Pope Francis has called up Catholics out of the blue before. In August, he called an Argentine woman who was raped by a policeman and had written to the pope for help.
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