Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of more than 1.6 billion Roman Catholics, will hold his first public meeting with a married gay rights activist.

The meeting will take place during the pope's upcoming visit to Paraguay next month.

According to BuzzFeed News, Francis will meet with Simon Cazal, executive director of LGBT advocate SOMOSGAY. Cazal married Sergio Lopez, who is also involved in the group, in 2012 in neighboring Argentina, the first South American nation to legalize such unions.

Cazal was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with the pope and other civil society leaders being organized by the committee of the Paraguayan bishops' conference.

Lopez said that the church's invitation came as a surprise.

In April, SOMOSGAY announced a campaign asking the Catholic Church to respect LGBT people in Paraguay.