Pope Francis met with LGBTQ-affirming priest Father James Martin privately in what is being called an important signal to Catholics.

The two met on Monday morning, which is part of the Pope’s published schedule, as opposed to privately in the afternoon, Reuters noted.

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Martin wrote the book Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity, published in 2017, and regularly lectures on the topic, including being the first pro-LGBTQ speaker at the World Meeting of Families.

He has been turned away by conservative Catholics on numerous occasions, and the Pope choosing to not only have a private meeting with him, but making that known publicly, is being described as an endorsement of sorts.

Martin said on Twitter that the meeting was one of the highlights of his life, and that the Pope’s decision to meet with him was “a clear sign of his deep pastoral care for LGBT Catholics and LGBT people worldwide.”

One of the highlights of my life. I felt encouraged, consoled and inspired by the Holy Father today. And his time with me, in the middle of a busy day and a busy life, seems a clear sign of his deep pastoral care for LGBT Catholics and LGBT people worldwide. (Foto@VaticanMedia). pic.twitter.com/1BeaiVh0Q4 — James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) September 30, 2019

He also described some details of a meeting he had with Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, the prefect of the Congregation for Education, and Fr. Friedrich Bechina, the undersecretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, about the Congregation’s document “Male and Female He Created Them.”

He revealed that he read letters from “a Sister who ministers to transgender individuals, from a family with LGBT children, and a transgender person himself,” and that he was told the context of the document was pertaining to Catholic schools and shouldn’t be read as a condemnation of transgender people.

During our meeting I read aloud letters from a Sister who ministers to transgender individuals, from a family with LGBT children, and a transgender person himself. Again, with their permission, I can share that they spoke about the context and purpose of their document,… — James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) October 1, 2019

As I said, they gave me permission to share this with you, but the rest of the meeting will be kept private. I was happy to bring LGBT voices to this warm meeting and very grateful for their openness to dialogue. — James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) October 1, 2019

Pope Francis has a mixed record on LGBTQ issues. Most famously, back in 2013, he asked what would give him the right to judge a gay person who “searches for the Lord and has good will.”

The Catholic Church teaches that being gay is not itself sinful, but that gay sexual acts are, and therefore asks gay and bisexual church members to remain celibate.

Last year, the Pope told a victim of clerical sexual abuse that God made him gay and that He loves him.

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The Pope has also called same-sex parenting “ungodly,” however, and told bishops in a closed door meeting to keep gay men out of the priesthood.

He has also criticized the growing acceptance of transgender people, as well as medical interventions allowing people to transition.

Rorate Caeli, a conservative blog that has has been critical of Martin, tweeted of the meeting: “It’s the feast of St. Gay Rome,” and, “If that’s not an endorsement, nothing is.”

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, said in a statement the meeting “refutes the unjustified barrage of criticism [the Pope] has received from a minority of Church leaders and other anti-LGBTQ sectors of the Church.”

He added that it was “a clear signal that Pope Francis is calling the Church to conversion away from the negative messages it has sent in the past about LGBTQ people. It is a day of celebration for LGBTQ Catholics who have longed for an outstretched hand of welcome from the Church that they love.”