Скачать или смотреть The Vatican says gender-affirming surgery, surrogacy are violations of human dignity: AP explains

(8 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome - 8 April 2024
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1. SOUNDBITE (English) Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Vatican Correspondent:
"The Vatican document on human dignity covers a lot of territory, but the two points that are getting the most attention are on the calls of gender affirming surgery and surrogacy are grave violations of human dignity, on par with things like abortion and euthanasia. This is not a new position for the Vatican. Pope Francis himself has said this before on several occasions, but it was still saddening to the trans community, who called it an outdated and harmful declaration from the very authoritative Vatican Doctrine office. Pope Francis has made reaching out to the LGBTQ community really a hallmark of his papacy and yet he has a real problem with, what he calls gender ideology. And so this document now puts that on paper, in a, in a very authoritative way. Cardinal Victor Fernandez, who's the head of the Vatican Doctrine Office, presented this document today at a press conference. He acknowledged that it comes after a previous document which called for the allowance of blessings for same sex unions. So he acknowledged that there were two different messages coming out of the Vatican. But he said they're consistent. They are both consistent with Pope Francis's message of welcome but his belief that, that men and women are born that way and that coming together when there is sex involved, it is for the procreation, creation of new life."
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STORYLINE:
The Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as grave violations of human dignity, putting them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that reject God’s plan for human life.

The Vatican’s doctrine office issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page declaration that has been in the works for five years.

After substantial revision in recent months, it was approved March 25 by Pope Francis, who ordered its publication.

From a pope who has made outreach to the LGBTQ+ community a hallmark of his papacy, the document was a setback for trans Catholics.

But its message was also consistent with the Argentine Jesuit's long-standing belief that while trans people should be welcomed in the church, so-called “gender ideologies” should not.

In its most eagerly anticipated section, the Vatican repeated its rejection of “gender theory,” or the idea that one’s biological sex can change.

It said God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings, and said people must not tinker with that or try to "make oneself God.”

“It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” the document said.

It distinguished between gender-affirming surgeries, which it rejected, and “genital abnormalities” that are present at birth or that develop later.

Those abnormalities can be “resolved” with the help of health care professionals, it said.

Advocates for LGBTQ+ Catholics immediately criticized the document as outdated, harmful and contrary to the stated goal of recognizing the “infinite dignity” of all of God's children.

They warned it could have real-world effects on trans people, fueling anti-trans violence and discrimination.

The document’s existence, rumored since 2019, was confirmed in recent weeks by the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, a close Francis confidant.

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