Pope Francis offered one of the most clear-cut moral teachings of his pontificate Monday when the Vatican issued a document condemning gender theory, sex-change procedures, and surrogacy as morally abominable practices.
The document issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, Dignitas Infinita, may be a moral directive to the members of the Catholic Church, but it is a compelling document that clearly explains how each of the matters in question violates human dignity and can be appreciated and understood by people of all faiths.
The document deals with a number of moral problems, including sexual abuse, euthanasia, human trafficking, and abortion. But the passages on gender theory and surrogacy are a particularly timely and effective response to ideas and practices that have not only become widespread but accepted as good.
In condemning surrogacy, the Vatican offered a clear-cut explanation as to why this practice is an affront to the dignity of the child and the mother and should be outlawed by any civilized nation. Most strikingly, the document clearly explains that no person has a “right” to have a child.
“[A]cknowledging the dignity of the human person … entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of the conjugal union and of human procreation,” the document reads. “Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.”
It goes on to say that “Surrogacy also violates the dignity of the woman, whether she is coerced into it or chooses to subject herself to it freely. For, in this practice, the woman is detached from the child growing in her and becomes a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others. This contrasts in every way with the fundamental dignity of every human being and with each person’s right to be recognized always individually and never as an instrument for another.”
Anyone, regardless of faith, can look to these passages as a convincing defense of human dignity and an explanation as to why the practice of surrogacy is wrong under any and all circumstances.
A similar case is made on the gender theory and sex change procedures, two concepts that replace God with man and seek to overcome the naturally created order of things through a philosophy that man can do what he wishes as long as he has the technological capability to do so.
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“Regarding gender theory, whose scientific coherence is the subject of considerable debate among experts, the Church recalls that human life in all its dimensions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God,” the document says. “This gift is to be accepted with gratitude and placed at the service of the good. Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.”
Again, these excerpts are not teachings that can be understood only by Catholics. As the most visible Christian leader in the world, Pope Francis has offered a compelling moral response to these serious matters in a way that appeals to people of all backgrounds and faiths. Political leaders all over the world would do well to take note.