Transsexual believers will be able to be baptized in the Catholic Church if it does not cause scandal or “confusion”, the Vatican announced on Wednesday, clarifying a sensitive area of doctrine.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, charged with promulgating and defending matters of the Catholic faith, has also not objected to the baptism of children of same-sex couples, regardless of whether they were adopted or born through surrogacy.
The comments were made in a document answering questions from a Brazilian bishop, written on October 31, but only now made public. It was approved by Pope Francis, who has repeatedly said the Church should be open to all, including LGBTQ believers.
However, the Pope made it clear that he considers homosexuality a sin, just like any sexual act outside marriage. Catholic doctrine defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman to have children.
In the document, the dicastery states that transgender people are faithful “they can receive baptism, under the same conditions as other believers, if there is no situation where there is a risk of creating public scandals or insecurity among the faithful”. This applies to someone who has undergone hormone treatment and/or gender reassignment surgery, he said.
In response to a question about whether a same-sex couple can be considered parents of a child who has been baptized, the dicastery said only that there must be a “well-founded hope” that the child will be raised in the Catholic religion.
Source: DN
