The Vatican has issued a statement condemning gender theory, transgender surgery, and surrogacy as affronts to human dignity.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) released Dignitas Infinita, Latin for “Infinite Dignity,” on Monday after more than five years of research. The document focuses on threats to human dignity in the modern world.
“In 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,” according to the document’s opening statement.
Dignitas Infinita examines more than a dozen contemporary themes through the lens of scripture and church teaching, including abortion, human trafficking, poverty, euthanasia, the death penalty, and more.
Notably, the document explicitly reinforces and expands on the Catholic Church’s position on gender theory, which it regards as an unacceptable doctrine, claiming that attempts to change an individual’s unchangeable gender are ultimately mistaken attempts to play God.
“Regarding 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,” the statement reads. We should gratefully welcome this gift and use it for good. Desiring personal self-determination, as gender theory suggests, apart from the fundamental reality that human existence is a gift, amounts to giving in to the age-old temptation to become God, competing with the actual God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.”
It is not a new attitude for the church; Pope Francis, who has had to combat the fast rise of gender ideology in recent years, has already referred to it as one of the world’s “most dangerous ideological colonizations.”
The text continues, “Another major characteristic of gender theory is that it seeks to ignore the most significant difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference. This fundamental difference is not only the greatest imagined difference, but also the most beautiful and powerful. In the male-female pair, this difference results in the most wonderful of reciprocities. It therefore becomes the cause of that miracle that never fails to amaze us: the arrival of new humans into the world.”
Pope Francis approved Dignitas Infinita for publication on March 25, after it underwent considerable revisions over the last few months. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the DDF, delivered the paper at a news conference in Vatican City on Monday.
The document upholds the Church’s abortion doctrines while also expanding on its long-standing ethical objections to surrogate pregnancies, which it claims are opposed to pro-life beliefs.
“The Church also takes a stand against the practice of surrogacy, through which the immensely worthy child becomes a mere object,” according to the statement.
“First and foremost, the practice of surrogacy violates the dignity of children. Indeed, every kid has an intangible dignity that is clearly represented—albeit in a unique and differentiated way—at every stage of his or her life: from conception to birth, growing up as a boy or girl, and becoming an adult,” the dicastery stated in the document. “Because of this unalienable dignity, the 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.”
Surrogacy by in vitro fertilization often necessitates the artificial fertilization of several human embryos, some of which are then permanently frozen or killed.
The Catholic Church believes that human life should be protected and treasured from the time of conception until natural death, regardless of developmental stage or circumstances.
It has also expressed deep worry about the international surrogacy industry, in which wealthy couples pay impoverished women in the Third World to carry their embryos to term.
It went on to say, “Moreover, acknowledging the dignity of the human person entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of conjugal union and human procreation.” Given this, we cannot turn the genuine desire to have a child into a ‘right to a child’ that undermines the child’s dignity as the recipient of the gift of life.
Dignitas Infinita provides insight into the Catholic Church’s perspective on over 14 fundamental ethical issues that the Vatican believes society should take more seriously.
“Although not comprehensive, the topics discussed in this Declaration are selected to illuminate different facets of human dignity that might be obscured in many people’s consciousness,” the title of the document states. “Some themes may appeal more to some segments of society than others. Nonetheless, they all strike us as vital because, when taken collectively, they let us recognize the symmetry and richness of the Gospel’s perspective on human dignity.
It is not intended to be a comprehensive reference to modern moral issues but rather to provide a quick overview of the most pressing threats to human dignity.
It says, “This Declaration does not intend to exhaust such a rich and important subject. Instead, it seeks to provide some ideas for consideration that will assist us in maintaining a sense of human dignity in the midst of our complex historical moment. This is so that we do not lose our course and expose ourselves to further wounds and terrible pain in the midst of our time’s various issues and fears.
