Called “Dignitas infinita” (“An infinite dignity”), this twenty-page document approved by Pope Francis, the fruit of five years of work, was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful body of the Holy See responsible for the dogma which lists cases of “concrete and serious violations” of dignity.
Four months after the controversy sparked by the opening of the blessings of homosexual couples, particularly in the conservative camp, this text qualified as “very important” which addresses themes dear to Pope Francis such as war, the rights of migrants, ecology , social justice, digital violence is also a way of healing internal divisions within the Church.
In this 68-point text written by the prefect of the dicastery, the Argentine theologian and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez lists in particular cases of “concrete and serious violations” of dignity.
Thus, surrogacy (GPA) is described as "in total contradiction with the fundamental dignity of every human being", while the Vatican sees "a very dangerous crisis of the moral sense" in "the acceptance of abortion in mentalities, in morals and in the law itself.”
“Gender theory” denounced
In addition and for the first time in such a specific way, the Vatican forcefully denounces “gender theory”, described by Francis as “very dangerous ideological colonization”. “Any sex reassignment procedure generally risks threatening the unique dignity a person has received from the moment of conception,” it says.
At the same time, the Church recalls the right to respect for LGBT + people and denounces “the fact that, in certain places, many people are imprisoned, tortured and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation ". Furthermore, a long paragraph is devoted to violence against women. “The phenomenon of femicide will never be condemned enough,” says the Vatican.
This declaration “thus contributes to overcoming the dichotomy existing between those who focus exclusively on the defense of nascent or dying life, forgetting many other attacks on human dignity, and vice versa”, summarized Andrea Tornielli, editorialist of the official Vatican News media.