Mónica Astorga Cremona

Mónica Astorga Cremona OCD (born Astorga Cremona in 1967) is an Argentine activist for transgender women and former Discalced Carmelite. She was the prioress of the Convent of Santa Cruz and San José de Neuquén, before being forced out of that role due to her work helping transgender women.

Cremona is the founder of Costa Limay Sustainable Complex for Transgender Women, an affordable housing community. She also runs programs to help transgender women find employment. Cremona has received recognition for her advocacy work from Pope Francis.

Biography Cremona was born in 1967 in Buenos Aires. She joined the Discalced Carmelites when she was twenty years old, and later served as the prioress of her convent.

In 2020, Cremona founded the Costa Limay Sustainable Complex for Transgender Women, an afforable housing project for impoverished transgender women. Costa Limay is the first permanent residence in the world to be dedicated to transgender people. 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. 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). 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".

In July 2022, when interviewed by the Jesuit 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."

At the end of 2020, Bishop Fernando Croxatto of the Diocese of Neuquén visited the monastery for an investigation and in early 2021 gave the feedback that Cremona's work working with the trans women was not appropriate for her vocation, ultimately leading to her resigning. After transferring to a monastery in Córdoba, where she met similar discrimination because of her social work, In 2024, the Vatican accepted her removal from the Order of the Discalced Carmelites.