The Vatican published on Monday April 8 a long-awaited new text devoted to respect for ” human dignity “which denounces abortion, a supposed “gender theory” and surrogacy while defending the rights of migrants and LGBTQ+ people.
Baptized “Dignitas infinita” (“infinite dignity”, in Latin), this document of around twenty pages approved by Pope Francis can be understood as a way of healing internal divisions within the Church, four months after the controversy sparked by the openness to blessings of homosexual couples, particularly in the conservative camp.
There we find the key themes of Jorge Bergoglio’s pontificate, such as war, migrant rights, poverty, ecology or social justice, associated among others with bioethical questions or linked to digital violence. The text, the fruit of five years of work, was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful Vatican body responsible for dogma which lists cases of “concrete and serious violations” of dignity.
Surrogacy (GPA) is described there as “in total contradiction with the fundamental dignity of every human being”. “The legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a “right to the child” which does not respect the dignity of this child as a beneficiary of the gift of life,” believes the Vatican. He also sees “a very dangerous crisis of the moral sense” In “the acceptance of abortion in mentalities, in morals and in the law itself”.
“Ideological colonization”
For the first time in such a specific way, the Vatican forcefully denounces the supposed ” gender theory “described by Pope Francis as “very dangerous ideological colonization”. “Any sex reassignment procedure risks, as a general rule, threatening the unique dignity that a person has received from the moment of conception”, we can read. The document distinguishes between transitional operations, which it rejects, and “genital anomalies” which are present at birth or which develop later. These anomalies can be “resolved” with the help of health professionals, the document specifies.
At the same time, the Church recalls the right to respect for LGBTQ+ people and denounces “the fact that in some places many people are imprisoned, tortured and even deprived of the good things in life solely because of their sexual orientation”. A long paragraph is devoted to violence against women. “The phenomenon of femicide will never be condemned enough”says the Vatican.
This declaration “thus contributes to overcoming the dichotomy existing between those who focus exclusively on the defense of nascent or dying life, forgetting many other attacks on human dignity, and vice versa”summarized Andrea Tornielli, editorialist for the official media Vatican News. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has insisted on the importance of a Church open to all, including LGBTQ+ faithful, but his efforts have encountered strong resistance.