Vatican denounces gender-affirming surgery, gender theory and surrogacy

In a new document, the Vatican says these practices are ‘grave violations of human dignity’.

The Vatican has declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy to be grave violations of human dignity in a new document endorsed by Pope Francis.

The 20-page Dignitas infinita, or Infinite Dignity, published on Monday by the Vatican’s powerful department of doctrine, is the culmination of five years of work.

It was released as the Catholic Church is split over a range of social issues and covers the key themes of Francis’s 11-year papacy, from war to ecology and social justice.

While the document reaffirms the church’s long-held opposition to abortion and euthanasia, the Vatican has now also repeated its rejection of gender theory, or the idea that one’s gender can be changed. It said God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings and said people must not tinker with that plan or try to “make oneself God”.

It acknowledged the possibility of surgery to resolve “genital abnormalities” but stressed that “such a medical procedure would not constitute a sex change in the sense intended here”.