Pope Francis has faced growing criticism in recent months for his openness to limited church reforms aimed at welcoming the LGBTQ community and other minorities around the world into the Catholic faith. File photo by Ciro Fusco/EPA-EFE
Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The Catholic Church will allow transgender adults to be baptized under the same terms as any other person eligible to receive the holy sacrament so long as it does not bring scandal to the church, according to a major new religious doctrine issued by the Vatican.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued new guidance Wednesday in favor of granting the rite of baptism, citing the Church's Code of Canon law, which says "for the child to be baptized there must be a well-founded hope that he or she will be educated in the Catholic religion."
The declaration, signed Oct. 31 by Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the dicastery's prefect, comes in response to questions raised in July by Bishop Giuseppe Jose Negri, of Brazil, who sought guidance from church leaders on whether transgender or homosexual people were entitled to be baptized or named godparents to a baptized child.
Negri also posed a range of questions about evolving social norms that were challenging and redefining many longstanding Catholic principles, such as whether children of same-sex couples could be baptized, and the appropriateness of a homosexual person to serve as an official witness to a marriage.
As part of the decree, the Vatican's doctrinal office clarified that children or adolescents navigating transgender identity issues will be eligible for baptism provided they are adequately "prepared and willing."
The policy restricts transgender individuals who have undergone hormonal treatment or sexual reassignment surgery, cautioning that appointing them as godparents could lead to potential scandal and profound divisions within the Catholic Church.
The Vatican cited another section of Canon Law to answer Negri's question about whether a cohabiting homosexual person can be a godparent, affirming the role could be taken up by anyone "who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on."
However, the doctrine adds that the church would likely oppose a godparent arrangement if a homosexual person lives in a committed and publicly recognized relationship, similar to a married couple -- while declaring that each case would be looked at with "pastoral prudence."
The statement also clarified that existing church law does not forbid individuals identifying as homosexual or transgender from serving as witnesses in a marriage.
Further, the dicastery noted that baptisms granted to transgender individuals were especially appropriate when uncertainty existed about the person's moral situation or "subjective disposition toward grace."
The declaration emphasized that baptism won't bring sanctifying grace unless an individual truly repented for serious sins, adding that baptism was "an immediate cause which disposes one to receive grace."
"Thus we can understand why Pope Francis wanted to emphasize that baptism 'is the door which allows Christ the Lord to dwell in our person and allows us to be immersed in his mystery,'" the DDF wrote, quoting a speech by Pope Francis in 2018.
Pope Francis has faced growing criticism in recent months for his openness to limited church reforms aimed at welcoming the LGBTQ community and other minorities around the world into the Catholic faith.
In early October, Francis revealed that he was open to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples as he reaffirmed the Church's ban on women priests.
At the time, the pope made clear that blessings toward same-sex unions could only be performed without the sacrament of marriage.
