Transgender Catholics — as well as a priest who welcomes them to his parish — expressed disappointment Monday with a new Vatican document rejecting the fundamental concept of changing one’s biological sex.
In essence, it was a restatement of longstanding Catholic teaching, but the dismay was heightened because recent moves by Pope Francis had encouraged some trans Catholics to hope the church might become more accepting.
The pope has welcomed a community of transgender women to his weekly general audiences. And last year, the Vatican said it’s permissible, under certain circumstances, for trans people to be baptized as Catholics and serve as godparents.
“A document like this is very hurtful to the larger LGBTQ+ community but especially to the trans community,” said Maxwell Kuzma, 32, a lifelong Catholic transgender man working as a film editor and writer in rural Ohio.
I completely get how LGBTQ people are drawn to Jesus’ message of peace and forgiveness so I can see why they’d want to be included in ‘Christianity’, but I don’t get why they’d care about being Catholic.
If you’re raised Catholic and think that’s the only way into heaven and then find out that way doesn’t include you- maybe rethink the initial assumption.