{"id":21779,"date":"2024-04-17T09:52:43","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T13:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=21779"},"modified":"2024-04-17T09:52:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T13:52:43","slug":"the-vatican-takes-a-stand-against-gender-surgery-and-surrogacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/04\/the-vatican-takes-a-stand-against-gender-surgery-and-surrogacy","title":{"rendered":"The Vatican Takes a Stand Against Gender Surgery and Surrogacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Vatican released a twenty page document entitled \u201cDignitas Infinita<\/a>,\u201d or \u201cInfinite Dignity.\u201d The document has been five years in the making and discusses the Catholic Church\u2019s position on gender theory, surrogacy, and gender surgery amongst others such as human trafficking and abortion. \u201cIn the light of Revelation, the Church resolutely reiterates and confirms the ontological dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed in Jesus Christ,\u201d the document begins. \u201cThe Church’s Magisterium progressively developed an ever-greater understanding of the meaning of human dignity, along with its demands and consequences, until it arrived at the recognition that the dignity of every human being prevails beyond all circumstances,\u201d is declares.<\/p>\n

In addressing gender theory, the document denies the idea that one can and should changer their own gender. \u201cRegarding gender theory, whose scientific coherence is the subject of considerable debate among experts, the Church recalls that human life in all its dimensions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God. This gift is to be accepted with gratitude and placed at the service of the good,\u201d it asserts. It claims, \u201cDesiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.\u201d \u201cIt follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,\u201d warns the statement. It also asserts the reality of sexual differences between men and women.<\/p>\n

While affirming the church\u2019s staunch position against abortion, the document also remains staunchly against surrogacy. \u201c\u2026the child has the right to have a fully human (and not artificially induced) origin and to receive the gift of a life that manifests both the dignity of the giver and that of the receiver,\u201d says the document. It warns that \u201cthe 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.\u201d Surrogacy and IVF have been a growing point of discussion in evangelical circles as well as the abortion debate rages on and many evangelicals are questioning the ethics of IVF.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ advocates blasted<\/a> the document. \u201cThe suggestion that gender-affirming health care \u2014 which has saved the lives of so many wonderful trans people and enabled them to live in harmony with their bodies, their communities and (God) \u2014 might risk or diminish trans people\u2019s dignity is not only hurtful but dangerously ignorant,\u201d said Mara Klein, a nonbinary, transgender activist. \u201cOn top of the rising hostility towards our communities, we are faced with a church that does not listen and refuses to see the beauty of creation that can be found in our biographies,\u201d added Klein. The statement did take issue with countries that have outlawed homosexuality and imprisoned or tortured homosexuals, writing, \u201cit 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vatican released a twenty page document entitled \u201cDignitas Infinita,\u201d or \u201cInfinite Dignity.\u201d The document has been five years in the making and discusses the Catholic Church\u2019s position on gender theory, surrogacy, and gender surgery amongst others such as human trafficking and abortion. \u201cIn the light of Revelation, the Church resolutely reiterates and confirms the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":21785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Vatican Takes a Stand Against Gender Surgery and Surrogacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Vatican released a twenty page document entitled \u201cDignitas Infinita,\u201d or \u201cInfinite Dignity.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/04\/the-vatican-takes-a-stand-against-gender-surgery-and-surrogacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Vatican Takes a Stand Against Gender Surgery and Surrogacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Vatican released a twenty page document entitled \u201cDignitas Infinita,\u201d or \u201cInfinite Dignity.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/04\/the-vatican-takes-a-stand-against-gender-surgery-and-surrogacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-17T13:52:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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