(NCR. KATIE COLLINS SCOTT).
Pope Francis warmly and repeatedly interacts with transgender individuals, sanctioned a document that affirms trans people can serve as Catholic godparents, and has praised the work of LGBTQ advocacy groups previously denounced by the Vatican. But he also recently approved a new treatise on human dignity that lists “gender theory” and gender-affirming surgeries — which many, though not all, trans people undergo — among the “grave violations of human dignity in our time,” placing them alongside sexual abuse, human trafficking, poverty and abortion. NCR asked three Catholic theologians how they view Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”), issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on April 8, in light of the pope’s notable actions of welcome toward the trans community. Their answers have points of agreement but also mirror the broader discourse in the U.S. church, where portions of the document have been met with praise, gratitude, disappointment and fear.