Trans people may be baptized, become relatives under certain circumstances, and serve as witnesses at church weddings, the Vatican announced on Wednesday. In response to a Portuguese priest who inquired about the Vatican’s position on trans persons within its churches, the declaration, which was written in Portuguese, was made.
According to a report from the Vatican, transgender people can get baptized” under the same problems as another believers,” but only if there is no “risk of causing public scandal or restlessness among the faithful.” This includes those who have undergone hormone replacement therapy or intercourse reassignment surgery. However, the report omitted to describe the specifics of a common incident.
The statement also states that trans” children and adolescents” may be baptized, and it adds that there is no reason why they cannot attend celebrations as witnesses. A same-sex partners may ordain a child who was adopted or was born through surrogate under the condition that there is” a well-founded hope that the child will be educated in the Catholic religion,” according to the document.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the New Ways Ministry, a Catholic awareness organization that seeks to forge ties between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+ area, wrote in an editor on Thursday,” The Vatican’s assurance that trans people should be welcomed in the church in holy life signals Pope Francis ‘ wish for an evangelically-focused approach to LGBT+ issues is taking hold.”
Regarding the question of whether trans people can serve as relatives, the Church remained ambiguous once more, stating that it would permit them to do so as long as there was no threat of what it called a “scandal.”
Without offering any detail, the church stated that it leaves it up to “pastoral prudence” to make the choice and clarified that” such a work does not qualify as right” in its eyes.
DeBernardo expressed concern over the document’s lack of clarity when he wrote on Thursday that “if church leaders do not use rural prudence with this guideline, it could be used by various officials to establish another policies which may exclude for people from different areas of church life.”
DeBernardo continued,” We hope that chapel leaders will use these suggestions to maintain existing restrictions rather than following Pope Francis ‘ example of luxurious delightful.”
According to Reuters, Pope Francis later approved the chapel file after it was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández of Argentina, the head of the Dicastery of Doctrine of Faith.
Pope Francis and evangelical officials from England and Scotland condemned the criminalization of sexuality earlier this year, calling laws that discriminate against LGBTQ+ people” sin” and “injustice.”
The pope declared in February that “people with queer impulses are children of God.” ” God is with them and loves them.”
While sexuality itself “is not a crime,” the bishop stated in an interview with the Associated Press in January of this year that same-sex sexual relationships are” sins.” He also made it clear that parents of LGBTQ+ children should n’t” condemn” them.
The Church of England stated that it would continue to teach that relationship is between “one man and one woman for life” and that propositions to forbid same-sex unions in its churches were made at the same time. After five decades of discussion, the choice was made.
— Frederico Levy offered language assistance.
