The Vatican has issued a strong warning against “gender theory” and said that any “sex-change intervention” risks threatening “the unique dignity” of a person, in a new document signed off and approved by Pope Francis.
Titled “Dignitas Inifinita” (Infinite Dignity) the declaration focuses on what it describes as a range of threats to human dignity, including poverty, the death penalty, war, assisted dying, abortion, sexual abuse and the abuse of women.
The text, published by the Vatican doctrine office on Monday, states that attempts to obscure “the sexual difference between man and woman,” including gender-affirming surgery, should be rejected. “It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” it adds.
The document is largely a re-stating of Catholic teaching on these topics but does not seek to isolate one issue – such as abortion – but says it emphasizes the equal dignity of all people, regardless of their circumstances. On abortion, it strongly reiterates what the pontiff has said in the past, that the “defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right.”
The pope has spoken out strongly against gender ideology in the past, describing it as “ugly” for erasing what he says are distinctions between men and women. The latest Vatican document quotes Francis by describing it as a form of “ideological colonization.”
It states that gender theory “intends to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference” which it says is “the most beautiful and most powerful of them.” Gender-affirming surgery, it adds, is to be avoided because “the body serves as the living context in which the interiority of the soul unfolds and manifests itself” but the document says medical intervention is permitted for those with “genital abnormalities.”
While Francis has been critical of gender theory, he also provided pastoral support for transgender Catholics. The pontiff has met a group of transgender Catholics from Torvaianica, south of Rome, meeting them regularly, inviting them to a lunch in the Vatican along with 1,200 marginalized and homeless people and giving them front-row seats at one of this audiences.
The Vatican’s doctrine office – now led by a close ally of Francis, Argentinian Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández – has also recently allowed for transgender people to act as godparents at baptisms and witnesses to marriages, a change to a ruling in 2015 when the Vatican said transgender people could not act as godparents.
Not all Catholics have agreed with the Vatican’s criticisms of gender theory. The document was criticized by one LGBTQ+ Catholic group which said it “fails terribly” by only offering transgender and non-binary people “limited” dignity.
“While it lays out a wonderful rationale for why each human being, regardless of condition in life, must be respected, honored, and loved, it does not apply this principle to gender-diverse people,” Francis DeBernardo, of New Ways Ministry, wrote.
The latest Vatican document identifies various “violations” to human dignity, including in the digital world, pointing to the trends where people’s personal lives are laid bare and “combed over” anonymously.
It cites the death penalty, which Francis has repeatedly condemned, and which it says “violates the inalienable dignity of every person.” The pope has changed Catholic teaching to make the death penalty “inadmissible” although this has been criticized by some conservative Catholics.
The document also addresses surrogacy, which it says “violates” both the dignity of the child and the woman, who “becomes a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others.” Pope Francis has recently called for the practice of surrogacy to be banned.
On assisted dying, the document reiterated the church’s opposition to euthanasia. “There is a widespread notion that euthanasia or assisted suicide is somehow consistent with respect for the dignity of the human person,” the document states. “However… it must be strongly reiterated that suffering does not cause the sick to lose their dignity, which is intrinsically and inalienably their own.”
Opposing criminalization of homosexuality
The Vatican explained that the 20-page document has been in preparation for five years and underwent various modifications to include “grave violations of human dignity in our time” and the pope’s teaching in this area.
The text strongly opposed the criminalization of homosexuality, something Francis spoke out against ahead of trip to Africa in 2023.
“It should be denounced as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation,” the text stated.
Cardinal Fernández, the prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine dicastery, presented the document to journalists at the Vatican, explaining that human dignity is a “central pillar” of Christian thinking.
On homosexuality, the cardinal said “even some Catholics” defend laws criminalizing homosexuality and said he was “shocked” to read a document from some Catholics supporting such legislation.
The latest document comes after Cardinal Fernández’s department sent shockwaves through the church by approving the move to allow the blessings of same-sex couples. He began his presentation at the Vatican on Monday by defending that document and insisting that an understanding of doctrine can develop and deepen.
He also pointed out that church opposition to abortion is not down to “fanaticism” but a consistent defense of the human person. He pointed out that the new document lists violence against women before abortion in its list of violations against human dignity.
This story has been updated with additional context