ROME — The Vatican on Monday released its first extensive official document on gender theory, rejecting what it cast as the notion that individuals can choose their own gender identity. The document, issued by the Vatican department overseeing Catholic education, argued that increasing acceptance of fluid definitions of gender by schools and legal systems posed a threat to traditional families and ignored the natural differences between men and women. It lamented “calls for public recognition of the right to choose one’s gender, and of a plurality of new types of unions, in direct contradiction of the model of marriage as being between one man and one woman, which is portrayed as a vestige of patriarchal societies.”The document broke little new ground in promoting traditional Catholic teaching on the intrinsic biological differences between men and women. But coming from a church led by Pope Francis, who has struck an inclusive tone toward homosexual Catholics, it immediately disappointed advocates who had hoped for a more tolerant message.

Source: New York Times June 10, 2019 16:30 UTC