12.04.2024.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presided over by Cardinal Fernandez, has published this week an important document Dignitas Infinita, dedicated to expose, denounce, condemn, it should be said, those behaviors that seriously violate human dignity, and it is a good thing that the document is about human dignity and not about human rights that we are seeing that are so easily manipulated. Of course the document is not perfect and it could certainly have been done differently and more elaborated on some points, but it is a really important document, which is to be welcomed and appreciated. And in order to understand what I am saying, I believe that we must look at three points. First, what the document says, one cannot evaluate it if one does not know what it says. Second, who has been bothered, or at least who has been most bothered by this document. And third, who has written this document and what importance it has for the future.
Let’s go to the first point, what does Dignitas Infinita say? I have selected some ideas, they are phrases, most of the things I am going to read, verbatim from the document. The Church proclaims the equal dignity of all human beings, regardless of their condition in life or their quality of life. This proclamation is based on a triple conviction which, in the light of the Christian faith, confers an immeasurable value on human dignity and reinforces its intrinsic demands. It is right to say immeasurable value, not infinite value as could be inferred from the title, because God alone is infinite. Immeasurable is already very much. Without the corrective help of religion, the text adds, reason can also fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideologies or applied in a partial way to the detriment of the full consideration of the dignity of the human person, after all, such abuse of reason was what caused the slave trade in the first place, and many other social evils, in particular, the spread of the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. There is a natural law imprinted in our DNA, like our fingerprints, imprinted in human nature, a natural moral law, but it is easily manipulated and we are suffering it not only now, the document speaks of, for example, the justification of slavery, or those totalitarian ideologies, which it does not mention, but which are, in the twentieth century, Nazism and communism. And that is why Revelation is important, because it is Revelation that does not allow itself to be bribed, because it is the untouchable message of God. It is fundamental to be very clear about this for a Catholic, even for the German bishops. It must be recognized, the text goes on to say, that it is opposed to human dignity whatever is against life, and it cites some cases, homicide of any kind, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and even deliberate suicide. It is also contrary to our dignity whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilations, moral or physical torture, systematic attempts to dominate the minds of others, and finally whatever offends human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary detentions, deportations, slavery, prostitution, trafficking in women and young people, or degrading working conditions that reduce the worker to the rank of a mere instrument of profit, without respect for the freedom and responsibility of the human person.
This is not an exhaustive analysis, nor does the document claim to be, because it would be too detailed, but I believe that the essential things have been said here. But there is still more, the document denounces some serious violations of that human dignity that are particularly up-to-date: poverty, war, the working conditions of migrants, human trafficking, sexual abuse, violence against women, abortion, surrogate wombs. Those who have been hurt by this phrase have already cried out to heaven, or I don’t know whether to heaven or to hell. The document condemns surrogacy, rental wombs. It goes on to say, euthanasia and assisted suicide, the discarding of people with disabilities, and here comes perhaps what has caused the most controversy, what has most angered the alleged or self-proclaimed friends of the Pope, gender ideology, sex change, the persecution suffered in some countries by homosexuals, and digital violence. It clearly condemns, without any justification, surrogacy, wombs for rent, as well as gender ideology, I am quoting only a few sentences, because each of these sentences then develops why it does so, and also condemns sex change.
The document also tackles the question of the elaboration of new human rights that are not such, literal quotation, sometimes the concept of human dignity is also abused to justify an arbitrary multiplication of new rights, many of which are often contrary to those originally defined, and not infrequently put in contradiction with the fundamental right to life. We must remember that he is talking, obviously among other things, but obviously he is talking about abortion, euthanasia, which he has already cited as very serious violations of human dignity, but this is what he is doing at a time when a country like France has just included abortion as a human right in its Constitution, and the European Parliament two days after the publication of this document, this very week therefore, has approved by a majority, not unanimously but by a majority and a large majority, the recommendation that all the States of the European Union include abortion as a right in their Constitutions. Of course, it is not going to be put into practice, and it is not going to be put into practice because unanimity would be necessary and it is not going to happen, but it is very significant, and that is why this reference made in the document is important, although it does not mention it and perhaps it should have mentioned it, this reference to these new supposed human rights that contradict the previous rights, and that also contradict the fundamental right, which is the right to life. The document is very hard on abortion and also on gender ideology, of which it says that gender ideology pretends to deny the greatest possible difference between living beings, the sexual difference, this constitutive reference is not only the greatest imaginable, but also the most beautiful and the most powerful, it achieves in the male-female couple the most admirable reciprocity, and is therefore the source of that miracle that never ceases to amaze us, which is the arrival of new human beings into the world.
Not all things have upset, infuriated, I would even dare to say those who present themselves as the Pope’s friends, they present themselves as the Pope’s friends, well, and of course they are allowed to take smiling pictures with them, which gives reason to believe that what they say is true, but it is clear that with this document there is no doubt that beyond gestures of welcoming hugs and smiles, beyond those gestures there is a profound discrepancy of opinions. For example, the reaction of that group New Way Ministries Association, which supposedly, I repeat, has been supported by the Pope, because the nun who founded it has been welcomed in the Vatican, and the condemnation given by Benedict XVI has been lifted, and because after that the president of the Association said that Pope Francis was absolutely in agreement with the practice of homosexuality, well, after this document against gender ideology, against sex changes, they have made this statement: ‘The new Vatican document Dignitas Infinitas fails terribly,’ these are the words of the Pope’s supposed friends, ‘it fails terribly in offering transgender and non-binary people not infinite but limited human dignity. While it lays out a wonderful justification for why every human being, regardless of his or her status in life, should be respected, honored and loved, it fails to apply this principle to gender-diverse people. The Vatican’s arguments and conclusions about gender identity and gender transitions indicate that the authors have not consulted the advances in the biological, psychological and social sciences on gender, worse, New Way continue, it shows that the authors did not listen carefully to the lived experience of people who have often discovered, after painful and torturous journeys, that God has naturally created them with a gender identity beyond the social expectations normally based on physical appearance’. They are really angry and it is a disqualification, not total, to the document, they don’t mess with other things, but as far as they are concerned. But there’s more, they further accuse the Vatican of, quote unquote, ‘supporting and propagating ideas that lead to actual physical harm to transgender, non-binary and other LGBTQ+ people. The document explicitly says that it condemns any kind of violence against people who are homosexual or who even practice their homosexuality, and it should be remembered that there are countries in Africa, but also Muslim countries, where this is punishable, even with imprisonment or sometimes even death. The document is very clear in this condemnation, but for them it seems very little and they even accuse the Vatican of giving arguments for this violence to continue. According to this organization, they are harmed by the same violence that this document condemns, in economic, psychological, spiritual, social, and most tragically, physical ways, which causes serious harm, often leading to death.
Their anger is so great that they accuse the Vatican of being a collaborator in the economic, psychological, spiritual, social and, most tragically, physical repression against homosexuals, those with homosexual tendencies or who practice homosexuality. This is more than an anger, it is an accusation and a declared rupture. We must also remember, as I have said before, that the nun Jeaninne Gramick, condemned by Benedict XVI for her writings and heterodox teachings, was rehabilitated by Pope Francis as a gesture of reconciliation, of good will, and now that organization founded by her, not presided over by her at this time, is the one making these harsh accusations against the Vatican, Cardinal Fernandez and even the Pope.
But it has not only been them in the United States, in Italy, the reactions have been very similar, even in Spain there has been the reaction of a Benedictine nun, Sister Teresa Forcades, a woman who also presents herself as very close to Pope Francis, there is no lack of photographs that confirm this, and this woman, this nun, has made public a document, a critical note against Dignitas Infinita, this is what it literally says: ‘For a cuer theology – she speaks of the one she develops, she has a book dedicated to this – the way in which Dignitas Infinita approaches the ideology of Gender, abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia and suicide, is unsatisfactory.’ For Sister Teresa not only gender ideology or sex change is not correct as the Vatican says, but she includes in her reasons for dissatisfaction, – these are the words she uses – abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, also for her that the Vatican condemns these things as very serious violations of human dignity is unsatisfactory, and adds why it is unsatisfactory, ‘because this condemnation is doctrinaire and little nuanced.’ Finally, Sister Teresa continues, ‘the paragraph on sex change seems to me to be a scandal that should never have been published’.
They are not angry, they are furious, they were not the only ones, also the German Bishops’ Conference has made it known that they do not like the document at all, but it certainly cannot be said that the German bishops are friends, at this moment they are among the disappointed friends, because they have long ceased to be friends of the Pope, at least in some aspects, even if officially they still present themselves as such and say officially that they do not want the rupture.
Third point why this document is important, who has written it, is it a document of the theologian Ratzinger, of the pontiff John Paul II or of the pontiff Benedict XVI? No, it is a document of Cardinal Fernandez, not even of Cardinal Ladaria, for example, or Cardinal Müller, who have been Prefects of the Doctrine of the Faith with Pope Francis. It is a document by Cardinal Fernandez, whose closeness to the Pope is well known, a document signed by Cardinal Fernandez, endorsed by the Pope explicitly. And what does this mean? That if tomorrow someone wants to modify some of these things and say ‘abortion, euthanasia, sex change, surrogate motherhood, gender ideology, any of the things that the document condemns, these things are more or less acceptable, he is going to find himself going, not against John Paul II, not against Benedict, but against Francis. His friends, I have always said that with friends like that there is no need for enemies, his so-called friends, say that he is the Pope, they are the ones who say it, that he is the Pope who wants to apply the Second Vatican Council with a hermeneutic of rupture, that he is the Pope of the new church, that he is the Pope who is willing to change the sexual morality of the Church, and other things as well. That is what his so-called friends say, those who are very angry, well, if you go against some of the things that this document condemns, that is to say, in favor of these things, you are going against Pope Francis.
It is true that it can be said ‘well, dogma evolves and therefore if a year or two years ago it was said that this was wrong, today we are smarter than two years ago and we say that this is right’. It is true that it can be said, it has already been said with the issue of the blessing of homosexual or heterosexual couples who do not live together in marriage, it has already been said, but to repeat the same argument twice is going to be very difficult, because it will clearly show the official installation, not unofficial but official, of relativism in the Church, there will be absolutely nothing from that moment that the Church says that can be taken seriously, because what today is bad, tomorrow with that trick or that excuse of the evolution of dogma can be said to be good. Who is going to take something seriously, something that not even those who defend it are willing to maintain that defense over time?
St. Vincent de Lerins, who spoke of the evolution of dogma, is often quoted, and this French saint is very interesting, an interesting saint also because he was accused of semi-Pelagianism. St. Vincent de Lerins, who lived in the 5th century, not in the 20th century, says that dogma can and must indeed evolve, and he establishes two categories; the category of progress and the category of change in dogma, and progress, which is what he defends, is when dogma evolves without betraying, without denying, what came before, change is when dogma evolves contradicting what came before, change is unacceptable, progress is acceptable. At the time of St. Vincent de Lerins, or until relatively recently, one could not speak of gender ideology because it did not exist, of surrogate wombs because they did not exist, of in vitro fertilization because it did not exist, of genetic manipulation because it did not exist. Dogma evolves by progressing when it does not betray what came before. Dogma evolves by betraying, by changing, when the previous is changed. To change this is not going to be, if someone pretends it some day, an acceptable evolution of the dogma, it is going to be a change and a betrayal to the dogma.
I insist, it is not a perfect document, and some have already taken out some points that could have been improved according to their opinion. It is a very acceptable document, it is a document to be welcomed and it is a document to be appreciated.
Until next week, God willing.
Francis infuriates his friends
12.04.2024.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presided over by Cardinal Fernandez, has published this week an important document Dignitas Infinita, dedicated to expose, denounce, condemn, it should be said, those behaviors that seriously violate human dignity, and it is a good thing that the document is about human dignity and not about human rights that we are seeing that are so easily manipulated. Of course the document is not perfect and it could certainly have been done differently and more elaborated on some points, but it is a really important document, which is to be welcomed and appreciated. And in order to understand what I am saying, I believe that we must look at three points. First, what the document says, one cannot evaluate it if one does not know what it says. Second, who has been bothered, or at least who has been most bothered by this document. And third, who has written this document and what importance it has for the future.
Let’s go to the first point, what does Dignitas Infinita say? I have selected some ideas, they are phrases, most of the things I am going to read, verbatim from the document. The Church proclaims the equal dignity of all human beings, regardless of their condition in life or their quality of life. This proclamation is based on a triple conviction which, in the light of the Christian faith, confers an immeasurable value on human dignity and reinforces its intrinsic demands. It is right to say immeasurable value, not infinite value as could be inferred from the title, because God alone is infinite. Immeasurable is already very much. Without the corrective help of religion, the text adds, reason can also fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideologies or applied in a partial way to the detriment of the full consideration of the dignity of the human person, after all, such abuse of reason was what caused the slave trade in the first place, and many other social evils, in particular, the spread of the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. There is a natural law imprinted in our DNA, like our fingerprints, imprinted in human nature, a natural moral law, but it is easily manipulated and we are suffering it not only now, the document speaks of, for example, the justification of slavery, or those totalitarian ideologies, which it does not mention, but which are, in the twentieth century, Nazism and communism. And that is why Revelation is important, because it is Revelation that does not allow itself to be bribed, because it is the untouchable message of God. It is fundamental to be very clear about this for a Catholic, even for the German bishops. It must be recognized, the text goes on to say, that it is opposed to human dignity whatever is against life, and it cites some cases, homicide of any kind, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and even deliberate suicide. It is also contrary to our dignity whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilations, moral or physical torture, systematic attempts to dominate the minds of others, and finally whatever offends human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary detentions, deportations, slavery, prostitution, trafficking in women and young people, or degrading working conditions that reduce the worker to the rank of a mere instrument of profit, without respect for the freedom and responsibility of the human person.
This is not an exhaustive analysis, nor does the document claim to be, because it would be too detailed, but I believe that the essential things have been said here. But there is still more, the document denounces some serious violations of that human dignity that are particularly up-to-date: poverty, war, the working conditions of migrants, human trafficking, sexual abuse, violence against women, abortion, surrogate wombs. Those who have been hurt by this phrase have already cried out to heaven, or I don’t know whether to heaven or to hell. The document condemns surrogacy, rental wombs. It goes on to say, euthanasia and assisted suicide, the discarding of people with disabilities, and here comes perhaps what has caused the most controversy, what has most angered the alleged or self-proclaimed friends of the Pope, gender ideology, sex change, the persecution suffered in some countries by homosexuals, and digital violence. It clearly condemns, without any justification, surrogacy, wombs for rent, as well as gender ideology, I am quoting only a few sentences, because each of these sentences then develops why it does so, and also condemns sex change.
The document also tackles the question of the elaboration of new human rights that are not such, literal quotation, sometimes the concept of human dignity is also abused to justify an arbitrary multiplication of new rights, many of which are often contrary to those originally defined, and not infrequently put in contradiction with the fundamental right to life. We must remember that he is talking, obviously among other things, but obviously he is talking about abortion, euthanasia, which he has already cited as very serious violations of human dignity, but this is what he is doing at a time when a country like France has just included abortion as a human right in its Constitution, and the European Parliament two days after the publication of this document, this very week therefore, has approved by a majority, not unanimously but by a majority and a large majority, the recommendation that all the States of the European Union include abortion as a right in their Constitutions. Of course, it is not going to be put into practice, and it is not going to be put into practice because unanimity would be necessary and it is not going to happen, but it is very significant, and that is why this reference made in the document is important, although it does not mention it and perhaps it should have mentioned it, this reference to these new supposed human rights that contradict the previous rights, and that also contradict the fundamental right, which is the right to life. The document is very hard on abortion and also on gender ideology, of which it says that gender ideology pretends to deny the greatest possible difference between living beings, the sexual difference, this constitutive reference is not only the greatest imaginable, but also the most beautiful and the most powerful, it achieves in the male-female couple the most admirable reciprocity, and is therefore the source of that miracle that never ceases to amaze us, which is the arrival of new human beings into the world.
Not all things have upset, infuriated, I would even dare to say those who present themselves as the Pope’s friends, they present themselves as the Pope’s friends, well, and of course they are allowed to take smiling pictures with them, which gives reason to believe that what they say is true, but it is clear that with this document there is no doubt that beyond gestures of welcoming hugs and smiles, beyond those gestures there is a profound discrepancy of opinions. For example, the reaction of that group New Way Ministries Association, which supposedly, I repeat, has been supported by the Pope, because the nun who founded it has been welcomed in the Vatican, and the condemnation given by Benedict XVI has been lifted, and because after that the president of the Association said that Pope Francis was absolutely in agreement with the practice of homosexuality, well, after this document against gender ideology, against sex changes, they have made this statement: ‘The new Vatican document Dignitas Infinitas fails terribly,’ these are the words of the Pope’s supposed friends, ‘it fails terribly in offering transgender and non-binary people not infinite but limited human dignity. While it lays out a wonderful justification for why every human being, regardless of his or her status in life, should be respected, honored and loved, it fails to apply this principle to gender-diverse people. The Vatican’s arguments and conclusions about gender identity and gender transitions indicate that the authors have not consulted the advances in the biological, psychological and social sciences on gender, worse, New Way continue, it shows that the authors did not listen carefully to the lived experience of people who have often discovered, after painful and torturous journeys, that God has naturally created them with a gender identity beyond the social expectations normally based on physical appearance’. They are really angry and it is a disqualification, not total, to the document, they don’t mess with other things, but as far as they are concerned. But there’s more, they further accuse the Vatican of, quote unquote, ‘supporting and propagating ideas that lead to actual physical harm to transgender, non-binary and other LGBTQ+ people. The document explicitly says that it condemns any kind of violence against people who are homosexual or who even practice their homosexuality, and it should be remembered that there are countries in Africa, but also Muslim countries, where this is punishable, even with imprisonment or sometimes even death. The document is very clear in this condemnation, but for them it seems very little and they even accuse the Vatican of giving arguments for this violence to continue. According to this organization, they are harmed by the same violence that this document condemns, in economic, psychological, spiritual, social, and most tragically, physical ways, which causes serious harm, often leading to death.
Their anger is so great that they accuse the Vatican of being a collaborator in the economic, psychological, spiritual, social and, most tragically, physical repression against homosexuals, those with homosexual tendencies or who practice homosexuality. This is more than an anger, it is an accusation and a declared rupture. We must also remember, as I have said before, that the nun Jeaninne Gramick, condemned by Benedict XVI for her writings and heterodox teachings, was rehabilitated by Pope Francis as a gesture of reconciliation, of good will, and now that organization founded by her, not presided over by her at this time, is the one making these harsh accusations against the Vatican, Cardinal Fernandez and even the Pope.
But it has not only been them in the United States, in Italy, the reactions have been very similar, even in Spain there has been the reaction of a Benedictine nun, Sister Teresa Forcades, a woman who also presents herself as very close to Pope Francis, there is no lack of photographs that confirm this, and this woman, this nun, has made public a document, a critical note against Dignitas Infinita, this is what it literally says: ‘For a cuer theology – she speaks of the one she develops, she has a book dedicated to this – the way in which Dignitas Infinita approaches the ideology of Gender, abortion, surrogacy, euthanasia and suicide, is unsatisfactory.’ For Sister Teresa not only gender ideology or sex change is not correct as the Vatican says, but she includes in her reasons for dissatisfaction, – these are the words she uses – abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, also for her that the Vatican condemns these things as very serious violations of human dignity is unsatisfactory, and adds why it is unsatisfactory, ‘because this condemnation is doctrinaire and little nuanced.’ Finally, Sister Teresa continues, ‘the paragraph on sex change seems to me to be a scandal that should never have been published’.
They are not angry, they are furious, they were not the only ones, also the German Bishops’ Conference has made it known that they do not like the document at all, but it certainly cannot be said that the German bishops are friends, at this moment they are among the disappointed friends, because they have long ceased to be friends of the Pope, at least in some aspects, even if officially they still present themselves as such and say officially that they do not want the rupture.
Third point why this document is important, who has written it, is it a document of the theologian Ratzinger, of the pontiff John Paul II or of the pontiff Benedict XVI? No, it is a document of Cardinal Fernandez, not even of Cardinal Ladaria, for example, or Cardinal Müller, who have been Prefects of the Doctrine of the Faith with Pope Francis. It is a document by Cardinal Fernandez, whose closeness to the Pope is well known, a document signed by Cardinal Fernandez, endorsed by the Pope explicitly. And what does this mean? That if tomorrow someone wants to modify some of these things and say ‘abortion, euthanasia, sex change, surrogate motherhood, gender ideology, any of the things that the document condemns, these things are more or less acceptable, he is going to find himself going, not against John Paul II, not against Benedict, but against Francis. His friends, I have always said that with friends like that there is no need for enemies, his so-called friends, say that he is the Pope, they are the ones who say it, that he is the Pope who wants to apply the Second Vatican Council with a hermeneutic of rupture, that he is the Pope of the new church, that he is the Pope who is willing to change the sexual morality of the Church, and other things as well. That is what his so-called friends say, those who are very angry, well, if you go against some of the things that this document condemns, that is to say, in favor of these things, you are going against Pope Francis.
It is true that it can be said ‘well, dogma evolves and therefore if a year or two years ago it was said that this was wrong, today we are smarter than two years ago and we say that this is right’. It is true that it can be said, it has already been said with the issue of the blessing of homosexual or heterosexual couples who do not live together in marriage, it has already been said, but to repeat the same argument twice is going to be very difficult, because it will clearly show the official installation, not unofficial but official, of relativism in the Church, there will be absolutely nothing from that moment that the Church says that can be taken seriously, because what today is bad, tomorrow with that trick or that excuse of the evolution of dogma can be said to be good. Who is going to take something seriously, something that not even those who defend it are willing to maintain that defense over time?
St. Vincent de Lerins, who spoke of the evolution of dogma, is often quoted, and this French saint is very interesting, an interesting saint also because he was accused of semi-Pelagianism. St. Vincent de Lerins, who lived in the 5th century, not in the 20th century, says that dogma can and must indeed evolve, and he establishes two categories; the category of progress and the category of change in dogma, and progress, which is what he defends, is when dogma evolves without betraying, without denying, what came before, change is when dogma evolves contradicting what came before, change is unacceptable, progress is acceptable. At the time of St. Vincent de Lerins, or until relatively recently, one could not speak of gender ideology because it did not exist, of surrogate wombs because they did not exist, of in vitro fertilization because it did not exist, of genetic manipulation because it did not exist. Dogma evolves by progressing when it does not betray what came before. Dogma evolves by betraying, by changing, when the previous is changed. To change this is not going to be, if someone pretends it some day, an acceptable evolution of the dogma, it is going to be a change and a betrayal to the dogma.
I insist, it is not a perfect document, and some have already taken out some points that could have been improved according to their opinion. It is a very acceptable document, it is a document to be welcomed and it is a document to be appreciated.
Until next week, God willing.