Pope Francis on Friday reiterated his opposition to transgenderism, warning that it is a “dangerous ideology” and arguing that its proponents are naïve if they think they are on the “path of progress”.
“Gender ideology is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations today,” the Pope said in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación. “Because it’s dangerous? Because it confuses the differences and worth of men and women.”
The pope has repeatedly spoken out against gender theory over the years, while emphasizing the need to welcome and pastoral transgender people. For example, he compared gender ideology to nuclear weapons and genetic engineering, warning that this was part of a “global war” on marriage and the family.
He often uses the term “ideological colonization” in reference to instances where influential organizations and governments require developing countries to accept abortion, contraception, and Western values before they can receive financial aid. For example, in 2016 he complained to Catholic bishops that school children are being taught to choose their gender. “Why are you teaching this? Because the books are provided by the people and institutions that give you money.”
The pope told La Nacion that transgenderism ignores the inescapable differences between men and women. “All of humanity is the tension of differences,” he said. “It should grow in the tension of the differences. Gender blurs differences and makes the world equal all boring, all equal, and that goes against human vocation.”
The Congregation for Catholic Education, the Vatican office that officially governs Catholic schools, issued a document in June 2019 that dismissed gender ideology as “nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the realm of feelings and desires.” . He added that such theories aim to “destroy the concept of nature”.