The Vatican released a document titled “Infinite Dignity” on Monday, which emphasizes the importance of human dignity in Catholic life. The document addresses difficult and sensitive social issues, including the exploitation of the poor and vulnerable. It reiterates the church’s rejection of abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, and issues such as gender fluidity, transition surgery, and surrogacy, causing concern among church liberals.
Pope Francis’ inclusive message has limits, as the document underscores the church’s adherence to Catholic doctrine. While the Pope has shown openness towards L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and transgender individuals, the Vatican has emphasized the immutability of certain truths. This highlights a dissonance between Francis’ welcoming style and the church’s defense of its core beliefs, disappointing supporters of more significant change within the church.
The Vatican argues that gender fluidity blurs the distinction between men and women, eroding human dignity as it challenges God-given differences. The church sees the promotion of gender theory as a form of cultural colonization and rejects the idea of a society without sexual differences. It criticizes ideologies that dictate how children should be raised and asserts the importance of maintaining traditional values.
The document reaffirms the Vatican’s opposition to surrogacy, viewing it as a form of commercialization that diminishes women to carriers and children as products. The church’s stance on surrogacy is rooted in its ethical and theological beliefs on the sanctity of life. While children born via surrogacy can be baptized, the Vatican maintains that the practice violates the dignity of both the child and the woman involved, detaching them from the natural and sacred gift of life.
The Vatican strongly rejects transition surgeries, arguing that the sex a person is born with is a gift from God that should not be altered. Changing one’s sex is viewed as prioritizing individualism over respecting the natural order of the human person. The church warns that such interventions can pose a risk to the individual’s unique dignity bestowed since conception. While exceptions are made for individuals with genital abnormalities, the Vatican stresses the need to uphold the inherent dignity of every person.
Overall, the Vatican’s document reflects the complex balance between Pope Francis’ inclusive approach and the church’s unwavering commitment to its doctrine. Despite the Pope’s openness towards marginalized groups, the document reiterates the church’s traditional stance on contentious issues such as gender fluidity, surrogacy, and transition surgeries. This divergence between style and substance underscores the ongoing tension within the Catholic Church as it navigates contemporary social challenges while upholding its core beliefs and values.
