Pope Francis has received a group of Italian parents with LGBT children, who presented the pope with the Italian edition of a new book filled with the stories of such Catholic families. An English edition of the book is due to be released by New Ways Ministry in October.

The audience between Pope Francis and forty representatives from the Italian group Tenda di Gionata (Jonathan’s Tent), which supports parent with LGBT children, occurred Wednesday at the Vatican. Religión Digital reported:

“Pope Francis greeted them warmly and, at the end of the audience, the vice president of the association, Mara Grassi, together with her husband gave [the pope] a copy of Genitori Fortunati [Blessed Parents]. The volume synthesizes the ecclesial experiences, often very hard, that lesbian and gay Catholics have had to go through.

“Along with these testimonies, the association has also included letters with specific requests and criticisms of the treatment [LGBT people] received by the Church, which has forgotten or stigmatized the LGBT community. ‘The Church does not exclude them,’ Francis replied. ‘It loves your children as they are, because they are children of God.'”