OAN’s James Meyers
1:21 PM – Thursday, November 9, 2023
The Vatican’s new ruling will now allow transgender people and babies of same-sex couples to be baptized.
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The ruling came down on Wednesday, expanding the Catholic church’s acceptance of LGBTQ+ members.
“A transgender person, even if they have undergone hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, can receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful, if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful,” the church said in a document published Wednesday.
“The church is not a tollhouse; it is the house of the father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems,” the document states, quoting the pope’s 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.
The move comes after a Brazilian bishop questioned the Vatican in July over its LGBTQ+ members being involved in routine Catholic practices.
Additionally, the document stated that transgender people are allowed to be godparents and witnesses at Catholic weddings and that people in same-sex relationships are also allowed to witness weddings, however, they cannot be godparents.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rejected the idea of gender transition since the Vatican was established.
“It is a major step for trans inclusion … it is big and good news,” Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, told The Associated Press.
Reverend James Martin, a Jesuit priest who has been a known advocate for “transgender rights” in the Catholic church, welcomed the new policy.
“In many dioceses and parishes, including in the U.S., transgender Catholics have been severely restricted from participating in the life of the church, not because of any canon law, but stemming from the decisions of bishops, priests and pastoral associates,” he said in a statement to the AP.
“So the Vatican’s statement is a clear recognition not only of their personhood, but of their place in their own church,” he said. “I hope that it helps the Catholic Church treat them less as problems and more as people.”
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