Mara Klein Criticizes Vatican’s Stance on Gender-Affirming Healthcare

The text was met with immediate criticism by proponents of LGBTQ+ Catholicism, who saw it as detrimental, out of date, and at odds with the declaration that all of God’s children have “infinite dignity.”

TFD – Delve into Mara Klein’s critique of the Vatican’s stance on gender-affirming healthcare and its implications for LGBTQ+ communities. Join us at TheFoxDaily as we explore the intersection of faith, identity, and healthcare.

On Monday, the Vatican ruled that gender-affirming medical procedures and surrogacy were severe breaches of human dignity, on par with the denial of God’s plan for human existence in abortion and euthanasia.

“Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page proclamation that had been in the works for five years, was released by the Vatican’s doctrinal office. Following months of extensive rewriting, Pope Francis authorized it on March 25 and gave the go-ahead for publishing.

The Vatican reiterated its opposition to “gender theory,” or the notion that a person’s gender may be altered, in the part that was most anticipated. It stated that God made man and woman as distinct, biologically distinct entities and that individuals should not alter this or attempt 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 made a distinction between “genital abnormalities” that develop later or are present from birth and those that can be “resolved” with medical assistance, ultimately rejecting gender-affirming procedures.

The text was met with immediate criticism by proponents of LGBTQ+ Catholicism, who saw it as detrimental, out of date, and at odds with the declaration that all of God’s children have “infinite dignity.” They cautioned that it might affect transgender people in the real world and encourage prejudice and acts of violence against them.

According to Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ Catholics, “it lays out a wonderful rationale for why each human being, regardless of condition in life, must be respected, honored, and loved, but it does not apply this principle to gender-diverse people.”

The existence of the document, which has been speculated about since 2019, was verified in recent weeks by Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a close friend of Francis.

After writing a more controversial letter granting blessings for same-sex couples, which drew anger from conservative bishops worldwide, particularly in Africa, he had portrayed it as something of a bow to conservatives.

However, the declaration specifically criticizes nations that outlaw homosexuality, many of which are in Africa. It confirmed Francis’ claim that “being homosexual is not a crime” during an Associated Press interview in 2023, solidifying the claim as canonical teaching of the Vatican.

The reality that certain people are imprisoned, tormented, and even denied the decent life in some locations only due to their sexual orientation is denounced in the new statement as being “contrary to human dignity.

From the perspective of human dignity, the document reads like a repackaging of previously stated Vatican viewpoints. In addition to restating well-known Catholic teaching against abortion and euthanasia, it also highlights some of Pope Francis’s primary concerns, including the dangers poverty, violence, human trafficking, and forced migration pose to human dignity.

It claims that surrogacy infringes against the dignity of both the child and the surrogate mother in a recently stated stance.

The Vatican document states that the child “has the right to have a fully human (and not artificially induced) origin and to receive the gift of a life that manifests both the dignity of the giver and that of the receiver,” despite the fact that much of the discussion surrounding surrogacy has focused on the potential exploitation of poor women as surrogates.

“In light of this, the right to a child cannot be converted from a legitimate desire to procreate into a “right to a kid” that disregards the child’s dignity as the bearer of the gift of life.”

The Congregation for Catholic Education rejected the notion that humans may choose or change their gender and stressed on the complementarity of biologically male and female sex organs to create new life. This was the Vatican’s most well-articulated stance on gender in 2019.

Though it softens the language, the 2019 education statement is quoted in the more recent document from the highly respected Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Significantly, it doesn’t repeat the 1986 language of a previous doctrinal document that said homosexual people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect but that homosexual actions are “intrinsically disordered.”

Fernandez admitted that the wording “intrinsically disordered” was somewhat forceful during a press conference introducing the paper. She suggested that there might be a better way, “with other words,” to convey the church’s view of sex as a perfect union between a husband and wife to create new life.

He acknowledged that the statement might have used different terms to convey this mystery.

The Rev. James Martin said the gender language was reminiscent of earlier pronouncements. Martin has advocated for the Catholic Church to reach out to LGBTQ+ Catholics more. He did, however, applaud the denunciation of laws and acts of violence against LGBTQ+ individuals.

As an affront to human decency, that cannot be said enough. “The LGBTQ person has infinite dignity, just like everyone else,” the man wrote in an email.

As pope, Francis has made it a point to reach out to LGBTQ+ individuals, supporting transgender Catholics and stating that the Catholic Church should embrace all of God’s children.

However, he has also attacked “gender theory,” calling it the “ugly ideology” that threatens to erase the distinctions between men and women that God has given us, and the “worst danger” that confronts humanity today. In particular, he has attacked what he terms the “ideological colonization” of the West in developing nations, wherein development assistance is occasionally contingent upon embracing Western conceptions of gender and reproductive health.

The document was quickly criticized by transgender activists as being “hurtful” and lacking the experiences and perspectives of actual transgender people, particularly in its differentiation between intersex and transgender individuals.

Mara Klein, a nonbinary transgender activist who has taken part in Germany’s church reform project, said, “The suggestion that gender-affirming health care — which has saved the lives of so many wonderful trans people and enabled them to live in harmony with their bodies, their communities, and (God) — might risk or diminish trans people’s dignity is not only hurtful but dangerously ignorant.”

It just seems to expose the underlying hypocrisy further to see that, in contrast, surgical interventions on intersex people—which, if performed without consent especially on minors, often cause immense physical and psychological harm for many intersex people to this day—are assessed positively,” Klein said.

The letter was released during a period of pushback against transgender people, especially in the US, where state legislatures led by Republicans are debating new legislation that would restrict medical care for transgender children and, in certain situations, adults. Bills pertaining to school toilets, sports teams, and youth pronouns are also being considered, along with some literature and curricula.

In an email, Klein wrote, “We are faced with a church that does not listen and refuses to see the beauty of creation that can be found in our biographies, on top of the rising hostility towards our communities.”