(Scypre.com) – On Monday, the Vatican issued a significant statement, categorizing gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy alongside abortion and euthanasia as serious breaches of human dignity. This declaration, titled “Infinite Dignity,” emerges from five years of deliberation and recent months of revisions, receiving Pope Francis’s endorsement on March 25 for its dissemination.
“Infinite Dignity” presents a complex stance from Pope Francis, known for his outreach efforts towards the LGBTQ+ community, marking a notable, though anticipated, shift. While advocating for inclusivity within the church, the document firmly opposes what it describes as “gender ideologies,” emphasizing the belief in God’s intentional creation of distinct biological sexes and the sanctity of not altering one’s gender.
Central to the Vatican’s message is a firm rejection of the notion that an individual’s biological sex can be changed, grounding its argument in the belief that God created male and female as fundamentally different entities. This standpoint criticizes any attempts at sex-change interventions as potential threats to the inherent dignity of individuals, recognized from conception.
However, the document does draw a distinction between gender-affirming surgeries, which it opposes, and medical interventions for “genital abnormalities” present from birth or developed later, suggesting such conditions can be addressed with medical assistance.
The declaration has faced immediate backlash from LGBTQ+ advocates, labeling it as outdated and detrimental. Critics argue it contradicts the document’s professed aim of affirming the “infinite dignity” of all individuals, failing specifically to extend this principle to gender-diverse individuals. Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry and Nicolete Burbach, a leading social and environmental justice expert at the London Jesuit Centre, voiced concerns over the document’s implications, highlighting its potential to fuel discrimination and violence against trans individuals.
The document also touches on the issue of surrogacy, articulating a new stance that deems surrogacy a violation of both the surrogate mother and the child’s dignity. It challenges the notion of a child as a right, advocating instead for the recognition of children as gifts that embody the dignity of both the giver and receiver.
This declaration, rumored since 2019, was confirmed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, reflecting a balance in Vatican messaging amidst global debates on LGBTQ+ rights and the church’s teachings. Notably, it criticizes the criminalization of homosexuality in some countries, aligning with Francis’s previous statements against such practices.
The White House, via press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, expressed approval of the Vatican’s stance against violence and imprisonment based on sexual orientation, while delicately navigating the nuances of internal church policy on gender theory.
While reiterating longstanding Catholic doctrines against abortion and euthanasia, “Infinite Dignity” broadens its scope to include modern challenges to human dignity, such as poverty, war, and forced migration, reflecting Pope Francis’s pastoral concerns. The document’s nuanced approach to gender and sexuality issues represents a continuation of the church’s engagement with these complex topics, even as it sparks dialogue and dissent within and outside the Catholic community.