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forest444

(5,902 posts)
Mon Oct 5, 2015, 11:02 PM Oct 2015

Yayo Grassi, gay man and Pope's former student, opens up about meeting with Francis in DC.

Yayo Grassi, a gay man and former student of Pope Francis who met with the pope in Washington D.C., said Francis "is not afraid to have a gay friend."

"Me being gay is no different [to the pope] than me having blue eyes," Grassi told ABC News today. "It's not different than me living in Washington. It is part of my life. And the way he accepted my boyfriend, it is a validation of how happy he is that two people of the same sex can be together and happy and miss each other when we are not close to each other."

Grassi brought his boyfriend of 19 years, Iwan Bagus, to the private meeting with Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature (embassy) in Washington, D.C., on September 23.

"When he [Francis] shows up on that corridor and I see him, and we embrace, it was so wonderful," Grassi said of the meeting. "I joked with him, we told each other a couple of jokes, and then I introduced all my friends to him, and they had things to bless and we talked," Grassi said.

"He asked me how my business is doing, what kind of food I was cooking, really things of a friend, that a friend would ask another friend. "We never discussed anything about me or my boyfriend," Grassi said. "We discussed my life, we talked about a lot of other things."

"I think the message that he puts forth is that of understanding, is that of not judging," he said. "I think that we all had one teacher, one mentor that we love very much and we consider that person extraordinary, remarkable. I think that he was he has a superior mind, he has an intelligence that goes beyond the common intelligence of regular people," Grassi said.

When Grassi learned the pope was coming to the U.S., he wrote to him; two weeks before Francis' trip, Grassi received a surprising call.

"He called my cell phone. And I just couldn't believe it," Grassi said. "I thought it was a prank at the beginning. But he called me by the nickname when I was a student so I knew it was him." "He's just so much fun."

Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Director of Holy See Press Office, confirmed Grassi's meeting with the pope in a statement Friday.

At: http://abcnews.go.com/US/yayo-grassi-gay-man-popes-student-opens-meeting/story?id=34223583
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And this meeting - unlike the Davis stunt (Vigano's head should roll for this) - was personally approved by Pope Francis as a meeting between two old friends.

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Yayo Grassi, gay man and Pope's former student, opens up about meeting with Francis in DC. (Original Post) forest444 Oct 2015 OP
So what? Behind the Aegis Oct 2015 #1
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