Transgender believers can be baptized in the Catholic Church if doing so does not cause “scandal” or “confusion,” the Vatican said on Wednesday, clarifying a particularly sensitive issue of doctrine.
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The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has also raised no objection to the baptism of children of same-sex couples, regardless of whether they were adopted or born through surrogacy.
The comments were made in a document responding to questions from a Brazilian bishop, written on October 31 but only now made public.
The document was endorsed by Pope Francis, who has repeatedly said the church should be open to everyone, including LGBTQ believers.
However, he made it clear that he considered homosexuality “like any sexual act outside of marriage to be a sin.”
Catholic teaching defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman with the aim of having children.
In the document, the dicastery states that transgender believers “may receive baptism under the same conditions as other believers, provided there is no situation in which there is a risk of public scandal or insecurity among the faithful.”
The same advice applies to someone who has undergone hormone treatment and/or gender reassignment surgery, the release said.
When asked whether a same-sex couple could be considered as parents of a child requiring baptism, the Dicastery limited itself to the answer that there must be a “reasonable hope” that the child would be educated in the Catholic religion.