The Head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis has declared gender-affirming surgery, abortion and surrogacy as a grave violation of human dignity but backs homosexuality.
This was made known on Monday in a 20-page ‘Dignitas infinita’, published by the Vatican’s powerful department of doctrine.
This document was released based on diverse social issues rocking the Catholic Church, it also reiterates the long held hostility the Church had against abortion, gender reassignment and gender theory.
The document states: ‘A human being whether born or not is sacred and inviolable.’
“The termination of a pregnancy means nothing other than denying human dignity to the most defenceless.”
The Vatican’s latest declaration draws a parallel between abortion and surrogacy when a woman carries a child on behalf of someone else and then gives it to them after the birth.
The Bishop of Rome noted that God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings and said people must not fiddle with that plan or try to “make oneself God”
The write-up acknowledged the possibility of undergoing surgery to correct “genital abnormalities” but emphasized that such a medical procedure should not lead to sex altercation.
The report also noted that surrogate parenting violates the dignity of both the surrogate mother and the child.
The Vatican also reasserted its opposition to the criminalisation of homosexuality, which still exists in many countries, particularly in Africa.
The document reads: “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 head of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, Victor Fernandez said in a news conference “We do not talk much about this violation of human rights, … and it is painful that some Catholics defend these unfair laws.”
But he has also denounced gender theory as the “worst danger” facing humanity today, an “ugly ideology” that threatens to cancel out God-given differences between man and woman. He has blasted in particular what he calls the “ideological colonisation” of the West in the developing world, where development aid is sometimes conditioned on adopting Western ideas about gender and reproductive health.
Meanwhile, Transgender activists also labeled the document hurtful and devoid of the voices and experiences of real trans people, especially in its distinction between transgender people and intersex people.
