Vatican document denounces sex-change surgery, unequal distribution of wealth
Doctrinal paper sees poverty, violence, gender theory as assaults on human dignity
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There’s plenty in a document issued by the Vatican today to challenge the thinking of liberals and conservatives alike. While the document, issued by the Catholic Church’s doctrinal office with the support of Pope Francis, is getting the most media attention for denouncing sex-change surgery and parental surrogacy as attacks on human dignity and God’s plans for creation, the document applies the same critique to poverty caused by the unequal distribution of wealth and to the rejection of migrants. And in what may be a first for a formal doctrinal statement, the document denounces cyberbullying and what it calls “digital violence.”
Titled Dignitas Infinitas (Latin for “Infinite Dignity”), the document has been in the works for about five years and was issued to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of that document, the Church sees an opportunity to proclaim anew its conviction that all human beings — created by God and redeemed by Christ — must be recognized and treated with respect and love due to their inalienable dignity,” the document proclaimed.
Much of the document is a restatement or clarification of what has long been Catholic teaching. It includes denunciations of practices such as abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, war and sexual abuse.
But it is a section on gender theory and sex-change surgery that is gaining the most attention. It refers to gender theory as an ideology that “envisages a society without sexual differences, thereby eliminating the anthropological basis of the family.”
Quoting Pope Francis, the document declares:
[A]ll attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected: “We cannot separate the masculine and the feminine from God’s work of creation, which is prior to all our decisions and experiences, and where biological elements exist which are impossible to ignore.”1 Only by acknowledging and accepting this difference in reciprocity can each person fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity.
With regard to sex-change surgery, the document says:
It is in the body that each person recognizes himself or herself as generated by others, and it is through their bodies that men and women can establish a loving relationship capable of generating other persons. Teaching about the need to respect the natural order of the human person, Pope Francis affirmed that “creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift. At the same time, we are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created.”
The document says that sex-change surgery does not include treatment of “genital abnormalities that are already evident at birth or that develop later.”
The paper denounces surrogacy because through it “the immensely worthy child becomes a mere object.” It says that surrogacy “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
On other issues, the document:
Quotes Pope St. John Paul II on the unequal distribution of wealth: “One of the greatest injustices in the contemporary world consists precisely in this: that the ones who possess much are relatively few and those who possess almost nothing are many. It is the injustice of the poor distribution of the goods and services originally intended for all.”
Affirmed the Church’s view that “every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.”
Said that war attacks human dignity in both the short and long terms: “While reaffirming the inalienable right to self-defense and the responsibility to protect those whose lives are threatened, we must acknowledge that war is always a ‘defeat of humanity.’ No war is worth the tears of a mother who has seen her child mutilated or killed; no war is worth the loss of the life of even one human being, a sacred being created in the image and likeness of the Creator; no war is worth the poisoning of our common home; and no war is worth the despair of those who are forced to leave their homeland and are deprived, from one moment to the next, of their home and all the family, friendship, social and cultural ties that have been built up, sometimes over generations.”
Called on countries to accept migrants who have been victimized by poverty. Quoting Pope Benedict XVI: “It is urgent to remember that ‘every migrant is a human person who, as such, possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance.”
Said, regarding sexual abuse: “The profound dignity inherent in human beings in their entirety of mind and body also allows us to understand why all sexual abuse leaves deep scars in the hearts of those who suffer it. Indeed, those who suffer sexual abuse experience real wounds in their human dignity.”
Called violence against women a global scandal: “Even in the most developed and democratic countries, the concrete social reality testifies to the fact that women are often not accorded the same dignity as men.”
The quote is from Pope Francis.