The Vatican’s doctrinal office has said that transgender people can in certain cases be baptized in the Catholic church and serve as godparents in a statement that has been hailed as a „major step for trans inclusion”.
In a document approved last month by Pope Francis and published on Wednesday, the office noted that a transgender person, „even if they have undergone hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, can receive baptism under the conditions as other faithful”.
The decision came with a caveat. Such baptisms were possible, it said, „if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating a public scandal or confusion among the faithful”.
The document was published as a response to six questions sent in by a Brazilian bishop in July regarding the participation of LGBTQ+ people in baptisms and weddings. It noted that transgender adults could serve as godfathers or godmothers at the discretion of local priests, who should exercise „pastoral prudence” to ensure there is no “risk of scandal” or “undue legitimisation in the educational sphere of the church community”.
American Jesuit priest Fr James Martin, who is a supporter of LGBT rights, posted on X (formerly Twitter): „This is an important step forward in the Church seeing transgender people not only as people (in a Church where some say they don’t really exist) but as Catholics.”
The updated guidance to Catholic clergy follows a suggestion by the Pope last month that same-sex couples could receive a blessing from a priest – saying such a request should be treated with „pastoral charity”. The move follows attempts by Pope Francis to make the Church more welcoming to LGBT people.
But at the same time, Francis added that the Church still considered same-sex relationships „objectively sinful” and would not recognise same-sex marriage.
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