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Did Angelina Jolie Introduce Her Child To Pope Francis As ‘Shiloh’ Or ‘John’?

By Effie Orfanides
Published on: 10:54 PST, Jan 8, 2015

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are in full support of their child, Shiloh, 8, who feels more comfortable dressing like a boy — and reportedly prefers being referred to as one, also. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have decided to call Shiloh “John” per the child’s request, which has caused a fair amount of controversy.

While the media plays with the idea of trying to get it right, one has to wonder how Jolie introduces the child when meeting new people… and whether that introduction was different when Jolie introduced her daughter (by birth) to Pope Francis. Did she say, “this is my daughter” or “this is my son”… “this is Shiloh” or “this is John”?

According to the Advocate, Pope Francis has been said to be more accepting of the LGBTQ community, but he hasn’t done much of anything to change the church’s views on the subject. In fact, his comments in November of 2014 did just the opposite. According to the Washington Times, the Pope spoke about the sacrament of marriage, and said that the root was between a man and a woman. He also said that children “have a right” to grow up in a family that has both a “mother and a father.”

“Pope Francis made clear that male/female complementarity is essential to marriage and cannot be revised by contemporary ideologies,” Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said at the time.

Assuming you believe that Pope Francis hasn’t done much of anything to change the views of the church when it comes to LGBTQ matters, you probably have an opinion on how Jolie handled the situation one way or the other. If you are a devout Catholic, you probably have a very different opinion from that.

While it is unknown how Jolie introduced Shiloh/John when meeting the Pope, several people have already weighed in. Some feel as though Jolie should continue to respect her child, and introduce John by the name she/he prefers; doing otherwise would be hypocritical. Others feel as though Jolie should respect the Pope, and that introducing the child by her/his legal name would be the only appropriate way to go about it.

Jolie was invited to the Vatican for a screening of Unbroken. According to the Daily Beast, the Pope didn’t watch the film, but he did meet with the actress and her children (John/Shiloh and Zahara, 10) afterward for a few minutes.

Jolie released the following statement after her meeting in Rome, clearly staying focused on her film, which is why she was there to begin with.

“Being invited with my film to the Vatican is an honor and a great tribute to the story that I have told in Unbroken. The story of the hero Louis a great example of strength and forgiveness.”

Many eyes were on Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, who was dressed quite handsomely. The child wore a suit jacket over a white collared shirt with a pair slacks. Shiloh’s short hair was more reminiscent of Brad Pitt’s, and she/he stuck close to mom for much of the meeting.

The day before, Jolie was spotted at a toy store with the two children and her brother, James. Shiloh/John was dressed down in slacks and a sweater over a collared shirt, which has been his/her go-to style for many years, since she/he was just three years old.

“She wants to be a boy. So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys’ everything. She thinks she’s one of the brothers,” said Jolie a few years back. Pitt even admitted that Shiloh won’t respond to them unless they call her “John.”

Do you think Jolie refers to her child as “John” in public? How do you think she should have addressed Pope Francis?

[Photo courtesy of the New York Daily News]

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