Mónica Astorga Cremona

Cremona was born in 1967 in Buenos Aires.[1] She joined the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel when she was twenty years old, and serves as the mother superior of her cloistered community at the Monastery of Santa Cruz and San José de Neuquén.[1] Upon joining the order, she began working with young drug and alcohol addicts and ministered to the region's incarcerated people.[1][2]

Since 2006, Cremona has been active in working with members of the transgender community in Neuquén.[1] She started programs to encourage transgender women who are struggling addiction to overcome it and has helped some who worked as prostitutes to leave the sex trade and find other employment by teaching them other trades.[1] She received support from Bishop Marcelo Angiolo Melani and Bishop Virginio Domingo Bressanelli for her work.[2]

In 2020, Cremona founded the Costa Limay Sustainable Complex for Transgender Women, an afforable housing project for impoverished transgender women.[1][3] Costa Limay is the first permanent residence in the world to be dedicated to transgender people.[4] The complex, which is a two-story building with twelve studio apartments, was formally inaugurated on 10 August 2020 in a ceremony attended by Governor Omar Gutiérrez and Mayor Mariano Gaido.[1][5] It was built on land in the Confluencia neighborhood that was donated to Cremona's monastery by the local district and the project was funded by the local provincial government, having been built by the Provincial Institute of Housing and Urban Development and costing about around 27.6 million pesos (around $300,000).[1] The complex includes a large park used as a vegetable garden and recreational space.[1] The housing program allows the women to live in the complex for life without having to pay rent.[1]

Cremona wrote to Pope Francis, with whom she was friends with during his tenure as Archbishop of Buenos Aires,[2] to inform him about the inauguration of the new housing complex, to which the pope replied, "God, who did not go to the seminary or study theology, will repay you abundantly" and said "May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin guide you."[1][6] The pope also told Cremona that he is praying for her and the transgender women she assists, and asked that she, "don't forget to pray for me".[1] Cremona has been referred to as "the nun of the trans" due to her work within the community.[1][7]

In July 2022, when interviewed by the Jesuit priest Father James J. Martin for Outreach, Cremona said "Transgender people existed before any ideology. If it difficult to judge the foundational experiences [of trans people]. Yes, I can say from my experience that the best thing is to know their lives, their sufferings and their joy. My invitation is to love like Jesus, not to judge."[8]