Vatican Condemns Sex-Change Surgery, Surrogacy As 'Grave Threats to Human Dignity'
Wide-ranging Vatican declaration has been in the making for five years.
By Gary Gately
The Vatican on Monday condemned gender theory, sex-change surgery and surrogate parenthood as “grave threats to human dignity” in a highly anticipated document signed by Pope Francis.
In the 20-page “Dignitas Infinita” (Infinite Dignity), five years in the making, the Vatican’s doctrinal office emphatically states that gender theory, or the idea that one’s gender can be changed, “intends to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference.”
“Any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception” as an “irrevocable gift from God” and amounts to succumbing “to the age-old temptation to make oneself God.”
(The document added the caveat that “genital abnormalities” present at birth or that develop later can be “resolved” through medical treatment, which “would not constitute a sex change in the sense intended here.")
Infinite Dignity also denounced surrogacy, saying it “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child” and that “a child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
Poor women have sometimes been targeted “based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs,” the document said, and the Church opposes the practice whether the woman carrying a baby “is coerced into it or chooses to subject herself to it freely.”
But the document adds: “First and foremost, the practice of surrogacy violates the dignity of the child. Indeed, every child possesses an intangible dignity that is clearly expressed — albeit in a unique and differentiated way — at every stage of his or her life: from the moment of conception, at birth, growing up as a boy or girl, and becoming an adult.
“Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.”
The Vatican document also reiterated Church opposition to abortion and euthanasia and Pope Francis’ concerns about threats to human dignity resulting from poverty, forced migration, countries shutting down their borders to desperate migrants and exploitation of the poor, women and other vulnerable people.
“In the face of so many violations of human dignity that seriously threaten the future of the human family, the Church encourages the promotion of the dignity of every human person, regardless of their physical, mental, cultural, social, and religious characteristics,” the document said.
Release of Infinite Dignity comes about four months after Francis approved “Fiducia Supplicans” (Supplicating Trust), a Vatican declaration supporting priests’ blessings of same-sex couples. The move drew harsh criticism from some bishops, particularly those in Africa, and some suggest the new document represented an attempt to appease more conservative Catholic prelates.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who presented Monday’s declaration at a Vatican news conference, said external surveys showed that the Vatican text of Fiducia Supplicans has received more than 7 billion views online and that 75% of those 35 and under in Italy approved of it.
When a journalist suggested that Fernández seemed defensive about Fiducia Supplicans, the cardinal said he did not plan to speak it about until Sunday.
“But,” he added, “these days from the Vatican and from outside they told me: ‘We cannot act as if nothing happened, as if we were escaping from reality with all the chaos that has happened.’ That's why I expanded my speech."
Cardinal Fernández also noted that the new document denounces “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.”
He said the Vatican cannot remain silent in the face of laws that make homosexuality punishable by death in some countries “as if nothing were happening.”
"We are facing a big problem — an attack on human rights," Fernández said.
He expressed his "astonishment" at having read comments from Catholics supporting the laws against gays issued by the military government of one country, which he did not name:“I am shocked having read a text from some Catholics who said, ‘Bless this military government of our country that created these laws against homosexuals. I wanted to die reading that.”
Asked whether the Church believed homosexuality should be decriminalized, Fernández responded: "We are in favor of decriminalization. There is no doubt.”
He also acknowledged the criticisms of those who suggest that perhaps the Catechism of the Catholic Church should be changed to eliminate the characterization of homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered” because it could fuel violence against homosexuals. Fernández said that is a “strong expression” that “needs to be explained a lot.”
“Perhaps we could find a clearer expression,” he said.
He qualified his statement, however, by saying: “The beauty of the encounter between man and woman who can be together and have an intimate relationship from which new life is born, is something that cannot be compared with another. Homosexual acts have a characteristic that cannot even remotely reflect that beauty."
Predictably, the Vatican’s strong stand against gender theory and sex-change surgery drew immediate criticism from advocates for LGBTQ Catholics.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ Catholics, said Monday: “The new Vatican document, Dignitas Infinita, fails terribly by offering transgender and nonbinary people not infinite, but limited human 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.
DeBernardo said that “far from being an individual’s choice, gender identity is based on a discovery of who God created each of us to be accounting for factors other than the physical appearance of one’s body.”
In the new document, he said: “The Vatican is again supporting and propagating ideas that lead to real physical harm to transgender, nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ people. They are harmed by the very violence which this document condemns in economic, psychological, spiritual, social and most tragically, physical forms, resulting in grave damage that often leads to death.”
New Ways Ministry and other LGBTQ advocacy groups note that many trans youth suffer bullying, family rejection, lack of affirmation of gender identity in school, stigmatization, violence, sexual assault and high rates of self-harm, suicide ideation and suicide attempts.
Jesuit priest Father James Martin, an LGBTQ advocate and founder of the Catholic LGBTQ publication Outreach, posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) in which he said: “I am most grateful for the reiteration of the call to stand against any kind of violence against or persecution of LGBTQ people, including imprisonment or capital punishment.”
Martin said the new Vatican document’s pronouncements on gender ideology and sex change have “disturbed, angered and saddened” some of his LGBTQ friends.
“If you feel that way,” Martin said, “it’s important to remember what Saint Ignatius Loyola says about the various spirits that move us toward and away from God. The good spirit consoles us, encourages and reminds us that God is always with us. The bad spirit throws up false obstacles and causes gnawing anxiety and even despair. These are always good insights to remember. At Outreach, we are committed to helping the Church become a more welcoming place for LGBTQ Catholics and their families and friends.”
The release of the Vatican document comes as battles over gender-affirming care play out in the courts and state legislatures across the U.S.
Presaging Monday’s declaration, Pope Francis last month condemned gender theory at a Vatican conference. It seeks to erase differences between the sexes, contrary to God’s will, he said.
“I have asked that studies be carried out into this ugly ideology of our times, which cancels out the differences and makes everything the same,” the 87-year-old Jesuit pontiff said. “Canceling out the differences means canceling out humanity.”
At the same time, Francis has repeatedly met with trans people, told some trans women at a Vatican luncheon last fall that “God loves us as we are” and has become known during his 11-year papacy for his outreach to LGBTQ people.
Read the full “Dignitas Infinita.”