Vatican says trans surgery is threat to ‘dignity of person’

THE Vatican has issued a scathing condemnation of gender reassignment saying it represents a grave threat to the “dignity” of a person.

In a document that took five years to draw up, the Vatican said that “any sexchange intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception”. The 20-page declaration, issued by the department responsible for Catholic doctrine, was approved by Pope Francis.

Entitled Infinite Dignity, it said men and women were created by God to be biologically different and that there should be no attempt to change gender.

The uncompromising stance was criticised by some LGBT groups.

“The Vatican is again supporting and propagating ideas that lead to real physical harm to transgender, non-binary and other LGBTQ+ people,” said Francis Debernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, an American organisation that campaigns for gay Catholics.

The document failed to take into account “the growing reality that a person’s gender includes the psychological, social and spiritual aspects naturally present in their lives”, he added.

Pope Francis has previously denounced gender theory as an “ugly ideology” that contravenes the fundamental biological differences between men and women.

Elsewhere, the document comes to the defence of gay Catholics and denounces the fact that homosexuality is still criminalised in some countries.

“The fact that, in some places … people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation” was contrary to human dignity, it said.

The declaration, issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterates the Vatican’s opposition to surrogacy, abortion, the death penalty and euthanasia.

It called for a global ban on couples using surrogate mothers to have babies. The Pope called the practice “despicable” earlier this year.