Cardinal Welcomes New Transgender-Negative Vatican Document; And More Reactions

Responding to pro-LGBTQ+ critics of the Vatican’s latest declaration, a top U.S. prelate has said the church “listens with the heart of the parent to a child, but it doesn’t believe that the child gets everything they ask for.” Today’s post features this news and more reactions to Dignitas Infinita after its release last week.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. gave an interview to Crux in which he was asked about Dignitas Infinita, particularly in view of the Synod on Synodality that concludes this year. Gregory replied that the declaration “is a welcome summation of the Church’s moral and doctrinal teaching,” and then specified:

“‘In terms of [Pope Francis’] outreach to the LGBT community, he’s also made it clear that he has great love and affection and respect for people who have a different sexual orientation. Now, there are those who will say, “what he should have done is approve all of the behavior activity of that group.” Well, he can’t if he’s going to be true to the Church’s history and its teaching. He can’t ignore the history of our faith, but he can call us to be respectful of others, but also to invite others to see and to appreciate and to accept the Church’s moral teaching. . .

“[Francis’] love for people and the LGBTQ community, is already documented, but he also has to call them to a deeper awareness of the Church that they want to belong to, that they do belong to – not just want to belong to, but they do belong to, and its principles of moral vision.

“I used this in one of my listening sessions in the Archdiocese of Washington, I said the most loving parent, at least in my own experience, but watching it in other situations, listens with the heart of the parent to a child, but it doesn’t believe that the child gets everything they ask for.”

Gregory added that Dignitas Infinita “lays the foundation” for “further discussion,” including about “other areas of human life and social interaction that are not specifically touched upon.”

Colleen Dulle, host of the “Inside the Vatican” podcast at America Media, wrote about the declaration for Sacred Heart University’s church reform blog. She stated in clear terms that Dignitas Infinita failed, explaining at one point:

“[T]he document, which speaks on behalf of ‘the Church,’ fails to take the Church to account for the discrimination it denounces, in what at this point reads like a boilerplate statement before negative comments on LGBTQ+ people: “‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided.” In contrast to its language in other sections that ‘the Church and humanity must not cease fighting…’ and ‘the Church also takes a stand against…,’ it employs passive voice to say, ‘It should be denounced as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation.’ It fails to say anything at all about the fact that people are imprisoned, tortured or killed because they are transgender. In fact, it does not use the word ‘transgender’ at all.

For all the years of study and preparation that went into this document, “Dignitas Infinita” notably lacks any substantive engagement with the theory it denounces, makes incoherent arguments regarding gender presentation as related to sex, and overlooks violence and discrimination against the very transgender people Pope Francis has gone out of his way to minister to. . .In ‘Dignitas Infinita,’ [the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith] has failed.”

Dulle hosted a conversation on Dignitas Infinita on her podcast with Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ, editor of America, and Michael O’Loughlin, executive director of Outreach. In the episode, Sawyer praised the declaration, and encouraged critics not “to throw out the baby with the bath water here.” O’Loughlin said his impression was that LGBTQ+ Catholics were disappointed, but not surprised, and he said the declaration was “a step forward for the gay and lesbian Catholic community—the church calling for Catholics not to support laws that criminalize homosexuality.”

Katelyn Burns, a transgender journalist and former Catholic, wrote at MSNBC about the declaration’s impact on her, someone who was raised in the church, but will not return due to anti-trans teachings. Burns explained, in part:

“I am a cradle Catholic — I grew up getting all the sacraments, from baptism to First Communion — but the church’s message this week likely stamped out whatever hope I ever had to come back to Catholic services. . .

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve thought often of returning to my faith in some form. I miss the community I had as a child. There’s still a strange comfort in the scriptures for me, as I think about the Bible stories I grew up with. There are lessons to be learned in the story of the Good Samaritan, and I can’t help but cheer along during the story of Jesus flipping tables to drive the merchants out of the temple. I still think about Jesus telling his disciples that eunuchs can inherit the kingdom of heaven, and I smile. But the church’s dictate Monday is far removed from the Jesus I learned about who embraced the downtrodden and the eunuchs of the ancient world. . .

“[The] Catholic Church has made clear for centuries that we simply aren’t welcome, most recently by calling our lifesaving medication a threat to human dignity. But from my perspective, big international religious organizations encouraging their institutions and followers to obsess over the possible genitalia of a small and highly marginalized demographic is completely devoid of dignity. . .

“I’d love to come home to my church, but its opinions of me and my community make it impossible to do so. I’m not willing to abandon my trans identity or my health care, but I promise not to touch the holy water again.”

FutureChurch, a U.S. Catholic reform group, issued a statement criticizing the declaration for “clinging to long-outdated and harmful ideas of gender essentialism that particularly dismiss their lived experiences.” The statement continued, in part:

“To the LGBTQ+ community, particularly those who are transgender or non-binary: know that you are a beloved child of God and an equal member of the Body of Christ. You are, in fact, beautiful manifestations of God’s fullness and glory. FutureChurch affirms and celebrates you and the gifts and witness you offer to our world and our church. We are blessed by you, and we stand with you as we seek a church that finally and truly welcomes you as God created you and a church that will stand up for and defend your rights and infinite dignity.”

We Are Church International questioned whether a document five years in the making “would not also have offered the opportunity to research human dignity within the Church itself,” such as when people deemed heretical were killed or abuse by clergy was permitted. The statement continued, in part:

” The document’s attempt to uphold and defend human dignity is weakened by its stunning  lack of awareness of the actual lives of transgender and nonbinary people.Far from being an individual’s choice, gender identity is based on a discovery of who God created each of us to be accounting for factors other than the physical appearance of one’s body. There is an urgent need to approach the subject with less ideological prejudice and more modern openness and scholarship.

“We may be comforted by the title of the document: ‘Dignitas infinita’ is a reference to the fact that human dignity is infinite, but could also be understood to mean that the Church’s teaching on human dignity has not yet been thought through to the end.”

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, April 15, 2024

Previous Posts about Dignitas Infinita and Its Reception

“What Transgender Catholics and Their Allies Are Saying About Dignitas Infinita” (Bondings 2.0)

““A Painful Lack of Understanding”: Theologians Respond to Vatican’s Latest Declaration” (Bondings 2.0)

“The Strawman of “Gender Theory” in the Vatican’s New Document” (Fr. Daniel P. Horan)

“Vatican Document on Human Dignity Fails LGBTQ+ People” (New Ways Ministry)

“New Vatican Document Condemns Gender Transitions and Undefined ‘Gender Theory’” (Bondings 2.0)

“Vatican’s Doctrine Chief on Criminalization Laws: ‘When I Read Them I Wanted to Die‘” (Bondings 2.0)