What Transgender Catholics and Their Allies Are Saying About “Dignitas Infinita”

How are transgender and nonbinary Catholics, their families, pastoral ministers, and allies responding to Dignitas Infinita, the Vatican document on human dignity released Monday that condemns “gender theory” and “sex change”?

Today, Bondings 2.0 features initial, brief reactions from eight LGBTQ+ or ally Catholics, listed below alphabetically by last name. Previous articles in our ongoing coverage and analysis of Dignitas Infinita can be found at the bottom of this post. For New Ways Ministry’s statement on the document, click here.

Phoebe Carstens (they/them) is a graduate student at Saint John’s School of Theology, Collegeville, and Bondings 2.0 contributor:

My initial response was one of resigned frustration and disappointment. I read paragraph after paragraph about the inviolable and inherent dignity of each human person, the need to not only treat each person with love and respect, but also to recognize them as dignified human beings in their uniqueness. I hoped that the existence and experiences of trans people would be rightfully included and considered. Unfortunately, no evidence of compassionate encounters with trans people is suggested by this document, which—rather than speaking to the lived reality of transgender people, Catholics included—instead labels gender transition as ‘a grave violation of human dignity,’ a false threat for the faithful to fear alongside poverty, human trafficking, and war.

Within this disappointment, however, I see a hopeful opportunity: the conviction that trans Catholics have so much to offer and teach our Church about self-exploration, dignified relationality, and embracing our God-given gifts. Each trans Catholic person I’ve met has described their gender journey as a process of discovery, with Jesus as the guiding hand, into a recognition of their own dignity, previously obscured by feelings of shame, heartache, and dysphoria. I take comfort in the fact that indeed trans people have always been here and always will be. We have always been loved and dignified by God. We always will be. And we are ready and waiting to share our gifts and wisdom with our Church, inspired by the dignity that God has given us. When the Church is willing to listen to us, we will have so much to share.

Deacon Ray Dever is the father of an adult transgender woman and a retired Catholic deacon. He is a frequent contributor on LGBTQ issues for various national publications, including Bondings 2.0, and Catholic organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

While Dignitas Infinita begins by beautifully proclaiming our belief in the infinite dignity that every human person possesses, it then goes on to effectively deny that very dignity to transgender and gender diverse individuals. The document, and the five-year process that produced it, reflect a continuing stubborn refusal to engage with transgender people, the scientists and scholars who understand them best, and the medical community that provides them with the gender-affirming care they need to live. Denying transgender people access to gender-affirming care is tantamount to denying them any possibility of living with the human dignity that this document claims to uphold.

Based on my personal and pastoral experience, denying that care can literally be the difference between life and death for many transgender individuals, who have a suicide rate several times higher than the general population. The sections of this document on “gender theory” and “sex change” are so uninformed and so far off the mark that I expect that they will be widely ignored by transgender individuals, their families, and their allies.

Mara Klein (they/them) is a nonbinary member of the German Catholic Church’s Synodal Path process and queer rights activist:

Sadly, this new statement on gender studies and matters of gender diversity is very much in line with what we heard from the Vatican before. Yet again, the many voices of trans people of faith, as well as contemporary sciences are ignored completely in favor of an outdated, heteronormative, and self-referential anthropology. For many trans people, gender-affirming surgery is life saving. In my own experience, transitioning has brought me closer to God and enabled me to love myself and my neighbours more fully. To suggest that such a transition diminishes our dignity is cruel and dangerously ignorant, especially towards those who find themselves in a desperate situation between their love for the church and the love for the way they feel God created them. Seeing the opposition to gender-affirming care juxtaposed with approving surgical interventions for intersex people—which if performed without consent especially on minors often cause immense physical and psychological harm—exposes the underlying hypocrisy further. After first reading, I am filled with sorrow for myself and my trans siblings worldwide. On top of the rising hostility towards our communities, we are faced with a church that will not listen and refuses to see the beauty of creation that can be found in our life stories.

Maxwell Kuzma is a transgender man living on a farm in rural Ohio who writes and speaks about affirming the dignity of LGBTQ+ people in all areas of life, but particularly within the Catholic church:

My greatest concern with this document is its dangerous implication that medical experts contest the importance of recognizing the transgender people’s lived reality and the evidence-based benefits of social and medical transition. Many of the  largely self-appointed “experts” who contest trans-positive perspectives  have only conducted biased studies that generate false data. I am also deeply concerned about the way intersex conditions were considered to be “resolved,” an expression that reveals a lack of engagement by the Vatican with actual intersex people.

My hope lies with the lived example of Pope Francis, who has demonstrated a welcoming care and support of transgender people. My hope is that the whole church will learn by his example how to extend that same respect, love, and support to the transgender people in our individual communities.

I am a transgender man and lifelong Catholic, and I know that my identity is a beautiful gift from God. The natural world reveals how much God loves diversity, and human diversity in particular is a uniquely precious gift that goes beyond any gender binary to reveal the beautiful wholeness of creation through Divine Love.

Benjamin Oh (he/him) is Co-Chair of Equal Voices, the national Australian ecumenical LGBTIQA+ organization, and Chair of Rainbow Catholics Interagency Australia, a national body for LGBTIQA-affirming Catholic ministries:

The document clearly exposes the gap in the drafters’ knowledge and understanding of LGBTQ+ realities. What is most saddening, however, is the document’s lack of compassion for our trans, gender diverse and nonbinary siblings, demonstrated in how the authors write in dehumanizing, impersonal ways about that community, detached from their lived experiences. I am very concerned that this document will fuel more ignorance, violence, discrimination and abuse directed at LGBTQ+ people in our church and society, especially in communities where our trans, gender diverse, and nonbinary siblings are already attacked. This document seemingly ignores report after report showing how people subjected to transphobia are overrepresented in suicide accounts and poor health outcomes. We instead need to affirm and celebrate the dignity and amazing faith of our trans and gender diverse siblings, and in this task, the document has failed on both accounts.

James Pawlowicz is a project manager, volunteer, and outdoorsman who is following God’s mysterious call to religious life in the church despite inadmissibility due to being transgender:

As a first impression, I found Dignitas Infinita disappointingly unoriginal, yet relievingly insipid. My favorite parts, on which I hope to reflect further, were the pervasive theme of our interconnectedness and the impossibility of realizing our fullness of dignity in the image of God without one another, and the examination of “digital violence.”

On the other hand, the arguments around gender, as the product of five years of development by a Vatican dicastery, underwhelm. Yet they leave me with two points of hope. First, the DDF used pointedly soft, indirect language in describing their concerns with “sex change interventions:” they say that it “risks threatening the unique dignity” of the created person (emphasis added). A threat is a matter of possibility, not certainty. So, too, is a risk. In this, I sense a door not totally closed. Second, given what is contained in these paragraphs, I have a firm conviction and divine hope that truth will prevail. It may take time, but if we continue to present the compelling evidence of science and the undeniable good fruits of our lives, truth in the hand of love will drive out ignorance and fear.

Victoria Rodriguez (she/her) is a trans mother with three kids and bisexual Catholic. She is involved with several Catholic LGBTQ+ groups in Spain and elsewhere, including Ichthys Sevilla, PADIS+G, CVX, Cursillos de cristiandad, and serves on the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics’ board of directors:

The many good aspects of Dignitas Infinita are sadly overshadowed by a few very bad points in the document. The main problem is that church leaders are not following their own teachings. For example, paragraph 64 of this declaration echoes  proposal 15k of the Synod Assembly’s report, which states that dialogue about controversial doctrine, like this one, “should also involve people directly affected by the matters under consideration,” which clearly have not been done.

If the authors had done so, they would know that trans and nonbinary people are living the life that God dreamed for them. That God made them eunuchs from the womb of their mothers (Matt 19:11-12) and they are just in pursuit of the name God gave to them. They would know that to every trans person it feels like an impossible dream to be able to transition their gender due the many barriers involved—and yet, after transitioning, they know that it is only thanks to God who helped them to overcome all the barriers.

St. Catherine of Siena’s words, “Be whoever God wants you to be, and you will set the world on fire,” could not be truer than when referring to trans people just following the life that God intended for them. Dignitas Infinita is a big reminder of why we need to start opening more dialogues and ending the many misunderstandings that exist around LGBTQI persons inside the Church. If those dialogues would exist, the Church would have never made a blunder like this one. And it is not just trans and nonbinary persons who deserve better treatment; the Church itself deserves better by following its teachings more faithful. Catholics deserve a Church where, as Pope Francis says, “everyone, everyone, everyone” can feel accepted and in dignity. I pray that the Church can and will do better.

Michael Sennett is a Catholic trans man who is currently pursuing his M.A. in Pastoral Care at Fordham University, New York, with the goal of supporting queer people of faith through encounter and dialogue, and a member of New Ways Ministry’s Advisory Board:

Dignitas Infinita was released on the Feast of the Annunciation—a significance that cannot be ignored. Hearing of God’s favor, transgender Catholics, in the same vein as Mary, might tremble in disbelief. Deemed unworthy by our respective societies, God chooses us. Mary is faced with an impossible situation. Answering God’s call doesn’t alleviate her fear, rather her leap of faith cultivates hope. Faith might feel impossible at this moment. Christ is still there beckoning us to take the leap and follow him. He waits because he has never left our side. When you quietly came out to yourself, Jesus heard and held you. He listened to every name you considered. Christ guides your hands on the day you take hormones. Jesus heals each bloody incision of gender affirming surgeries. He rejoices in our care which honors our holy authenticity. Christ carries the light of hope to our faith. Leap back into the arms of God who favors us and celebrates our dignity. Nothing is impossible for God who calls us to holy hope and authenticity.

Yunuen Trujillo (she/her) is author of LGBT Catholics: A Guide for Inclusive Ministry, Religious Formation Coordinator (Spanish) for the Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and a member of New Ways Ministry’s Advisory board:

On LGBTQ issues, Dignitas Infinita falls short. While clearly and unequivocally stating that the principle of human dignity applies to all human beings regardless of sexual orientation, it fails to include the fact that it also applies to all humans regardless of gender identity (which it does). This omission makes one thing clear: the understanding of the concepts of gender and gender identity is clearly lacking. By lumping all LGBTQ people under the umbrella of sexual orientation, it fails to recognize the mere existence of trans people. In this regard, Dignitas Infinita clearly shows what many of us know: the Church’s understanding of gender identity is heavily underdeveloped.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, April 10, 2024