Vatican says ‘gender theory,’ surrogacy, euthanasia among violations of human dignity

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The Vatican said Monday that gender-transition surgery and surrogacy are grave violations of human dignity. It put them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that reject God’s plan for human life.

In a 20-page document titled “Dignitas Infinita” (“Infinite Dignity”), the Catholic Church’s doctrine office also condemned euthanasia and assisted suicide, which it called “a special case of human dignity violation.”

According to the document, “poverty, the situation of migrants, violence against women, human trafficking [and] war” violate human dignity, as do surrogacy, gender theory, abortion and euthanasia.

While “every person, regardless of sexual orientation [should be] treated with consideration,” human life should be treated as an immutable gift from God, the document says. “Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes … amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God,” it says.

“[A]ny sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” the doctrinal document states.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, who heads the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference that the church is in favor of the decriminalization of homosexuality, adding that the Catechism says homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” according to the official Vatican News agency.  He conceded that the church “could find a clearer expression” of that phrase.

According to “Dignitas Infinita,” euthanasia is “swiftly gaining ground [but] suffering does not cause the sick to lose their dignity, which is intrinsically and inalienably their own.” The church supports “appropriate palliative care” for the dying but opposes assisted suicide as “an objective offense against the dignity of the person asking for it.”

The document reiterated Pope Francis’ opposition to surrogacy, which he stated earlier this year while addressing foreign diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

The “practice of surrogacy violates the dignity of the child” because that child “has the right to have a fully human” origin that is not “artificially induced,” the document states. It also violates a woman’s dignity because she “becomes a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others.”

The document also blasted “all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where individuals are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons.”

Poverty is “one of the greatest injustices in the contemporary world” and decried war as always being a “defeat of humanity,” according to “Dignitas Infinita.” The Vatican also denounced the “travail of migrants,” saying their “lives are put at risk because they no longer have the means to start a family, to work, or to feed themselves.” 

The new document — endorsed by Francis — was released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and follows a controversial December pronouncement on blessings to same-sex couples and others in “irregular situations.” 

That doctrinal office statement on blessings triggered global pushback from more conservative bishops and priests. Days later, Cardinal Fernández said bishops could opt out their dioceses from the new practice.

The Vatican said Monday’s document comes after five years of work to create a document tied to the 75th anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which occurred late last year. 

“[T]he dignity of the human person comes from the love of the Creator, who has imprinted the indelible features of his image on every person,” the document states. 

“Every individual possesses an inalienable and intrinsic dignity from the beginning of his or her existence as an irrevocable gift,” the document states. “However, the choice to express that dignity and manifest it to the full or to obscure it depends on each person’s free and responsible decision.”

According to the document, “poverty, the situation of migrants, violence against women, human trafficking [and] war” are connected to the issue of human dignity, as are the questions of surrogacy, “gender theory,” as well as abortion and euthanasia.

So far, “Dignitas Infinita” has drawn a muted response from leading U.S. Catholics.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was “pleased” to see the Vatican say LGBTQ individuals “are protected from violence and imprisonment.” When asked about President Biden’s response to the document’s condemnation of gender theory, however, she said it wasn’t his job “to litigate internal church policy.”

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who is a confidante of the pope and leads an outreach to LGBTQ Catholics, said on X that he welcomed the church’s affirmation of human dignity for all.

Chieko Noguchi, executive director of the public affairs office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the church’s American leaders welcome the new document.

“We are grateful to receive this declaration on human dignity, and the U.S. bishops along with the whole Church, will be studying and reflecting on it,” Ms. Noguchi said via email. “The document emphasizes the long tradition of the Church on the importance of always recognizing, respecting, and protecting the dignity of the human person in all circumstances, and how that needs to be understood, celebrated, and applied to the various situations and challenges we face today.”

Jamie Manson, president of the dissident group Catholics for Choice, said the new document is “completely disregarding our experiences” and that LGBTQ Catholics find it “devastating” that church leaders don’t return their “deep love” for the faith.

• Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the job title of Chieko Noguchi.