As many Western nations continue to promote gender ideology and debate whether minors should be able to access transgender drugs and surgeries, the Vatican states that the ideology “intends to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference.”
The declaration emphasizes that “all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected” and that “only by acknowledging and accepting this difference in reciprocity can each person fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity.”
A human body, the Vatican notes, also shares in the dignity of the image of God, and people are called to accept and respect the body as it was created: “The body participates in that dignity as it is endowed with personal meanings, particularly in its sexed condition.”
“Any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” the Vatican adds.
To respect human dignity, the declaration also condemns unjust discrimination, aggression, and violence directed toward individuals based on sexual orientation.
“It should be denounced as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation,” the Vatican states.
War and poverty
As war rages on in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and elsewhere in the world, the declaration confirms that self defense is permissible but that “war is always a ‘defeat of humanity,’” citing Pope Francis’ address to the United Nations in December.
“No war is worth the tears of a mother who has seen her child mutilated or killed; no war is worth the loss of the life of even one human being, a sacred being created in the image and likeness of the Creator; no war is worth the poisoning of our common home; and no war is worth the despair of those who are forced to leave their homeland and are deprived, from one moment to the next, of their home and all the family, friendship, social, and cultural ties that have been built up, sometimes over generations,” the declaration reads, quoting the current pontiff.
The declaration further discusses the problems of poverty, which it states are linked to the unequal distribution of wealth.
“If some people are born into a country or family where they have fewer opportunities to develop, we should acknowledge that this is contrary to their dignity, which is the same dignity as that of those born into a wealthy family or country,” the declaration adds. “We are all responsible for this stark inequality, albeit to varying degrees.”
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Human trafficking, sexual abuse, and violence against women
The declaration states that human trafficking is “among the grave violations of human dignity.” It includes the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labor, prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism, and organized crime.
“Confronted with these varied and brutal denials of human dignity, we need to be increasingly aware that human trafficking is a crime against humanity,” the dicastery adds.
Sexual abuse, as explained by the declaration, “leaves deep scars in the hearts of those who suffer it.” It adds that “those who suffer sexual abuse experience real wounds in their human dignity” and that the problem of such abuse plagues society and has also affected the Church.
“From this stems the Church’s ceaseless efforts to put an end to all kinds of abuse, starting from within,” the dicastery states.
The dicastery notes that women specifically face threats to their human dignity through inequality and violence. It references unequal pay, a lack of protections for working mothers, the exploitation and sexualization of women, and coercive abortions.
