Four months after supporting blessings for same-sex couples, the Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as violations of human dignity.

The Holy See’s office that deals with matters of doctrine issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 23-page document that had been in the works for five years. Following a series of revisions over the last few months, it was approved on March 25 by Pope Francis, who then ordered its publication.

In it, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s repeated the Vatican’s rejection of “gender theory,” the belief that a person’s gender can be changed, and made them equal with abortion and euthanasia as practices that reject God’s plan.

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The document said God created man and woman as biologically different and added that people must not change that in an effort 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 added.

The practice of surrogacy, meanwhile, is also highlighted in the document, noting that “the immensely worthy child becomes a mere object.”

The document — a broad statement of the church’s view on human dignity — also addressed abortion and matters regarding migrants, women and vulnerable people.

“Moreover, acknowledging the dignity of the human person also entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of the conjugal union and of human procreation,” the documents reads. “Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.” 

The also document highlighted the misunderstandings of those who prefer the expression “personal dignity” compared to “human dignity” since, the document said, “they understand a person to be only ‘one who is capable of reasoning.”

“On the contrary, the church insists that the dignity of every human person, precisely because it is intrinsic, remains in all circumstances,” the document added.

Francis’ stance on LGBTQ Catholics

In 2013, a remarkably candid Francis struck a conciliatory stance toward LGBTQ Catholics, saying “who am I to judge” when it comes to the sexual orientation of priests.

“We shouldn’t marginalize people for this,” he said at the time. “They must be integrated into society.”

In his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis touched upon gender theory within the context of ecological concerns. He criticized what he referred to as "gender ideology," which he argued at the time “denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman and envisages a society without sexual differences.”

Over the years, the pope has also emphasized the importance of respecting and valuing individuals regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Nonetheless, he has also expressed reservations about certain aspects of gender theory, particularly its implications for the understanding of human nature and the family.

In his apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” published in 2016, the pontiff criticized what he called “ideological colonization,” where powerful interests impose their views on developing nations, including views on gender and sexuality.

Pope Francis, at the same time, has emphasized the need for dialogue with diverse perspectives, including those within the LGBTQ community. He has called for an approach of “accompaniment,” where individuals are supported in their spiritual journey rather than being condemned.

Addressing culture war issues

While this pope has been seen as progressive on many issues surrounding the LGBTQ community, the Vatican acknowledged that it was touching a series of hot button issues with this new statement.

“Some topics may resonate more with some sectors of society than others,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, who leads the Vatican’s office on doctrine, wrote in the introduction to the document. “Nevertheless, all of them strike us as being necessary,” he wrote, “so that we may not lose our way and open ourselves up to more wounds and profound sufferings amid the numerous concerns and anxieties of our time.”

Cardinal Fernandez, an Argentinian prelate and ally of Pope Francis, was brought in over the summer to head the Vatican’s office of doctrine.

While conservative Catholics celebrated this latest document, not all Catholics were happy with the declaration, seen by some as the pope wading into a culture war issue.

“The Vatican is again supporting and propagating ideas that lead to real physical harm to transgender, nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ people,” Francis DeBernardo, the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a group that advocates for gay Catholics, told The New York Times, adding that the Vatican’s defense of human dignity excluded “the segment of the human population who are transgender, nonbinary or gender nonconforming.”

Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.