source – the gatewaypundit.com
The Vatican’s doctrinal office has announced that transgender people can receive baptisms, serve as godparents and be witnesses in religious ceremonies in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican’s new stance stems from Brazilian Bishop Jose Negri asking the Church’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith six questions regarding LGBTQ people and their ability to participate in matrimony and baptisms.
In response to Bishop Negri’s six questions, the Church’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith posted three pages in Italian on its website that answered Negri’s questions.
According to BBC the response on the department’s website stated “A transgender person – including those who have undergone hormonal treatment and gender reassignment surgery – can receive baptism under the same conditions as other believers “if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating public scandal or disorientation among the faithful”.
The Church’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith continued to declare that transgenders may be a godfather or godmother.
The new updated stance on transgenders was signed by Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and had the approval of Pope Francis.
Per Reuters:
Transgender people can be godparents at Roman Catholic baptisms, witnesses at religious weddings and receive baptism themselves, the Vatican’s doctrinal office said on Wednesday, responding to questions from a bishop.
The department, known as the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, was vague however, in response to a question of whether a same-sex couple could have a Church baptism for an adopted child or one obtained through a surrogate mother.
Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro in Brazil sent the doctrinal office six questions in July regarding LGBT people and their participation in the sacraments of baptism and matrimony.
The three pages of questions and answers were signed by the department’s head, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and approved by Pope Francis on Oct. 31. They were posted on the department’s website on Wednesday using the Italian word for “transsexuals”.
The document also noted children who identify as transgender can also be baptized.
well tecnically i can understand their stance , since, it these Transgenders were born Cathalix and baptised within thw required time ..then they are alredy baptised when they were biologically normal males ro females !
So , unless they changed sex before they were born …then they are not entitled to be baptised , unless the church no longer believes the birth of a child as a gift of God and perfect whether it be male or female Furthermore , they have just discredited God as being the Supreme being and creation of adam and eve , and in fact …not infallable! So does that mean , all the laws of God ..are not to be recongized , since, the God almighty we worship is now ..considered by the Catholic church …to be just another Oligark who has mismanaged his flock!
This is a very touchy issue. I have not seen any similar “official” statement made by our Archdiocese regarding this matter. But I will say this: if the Catholics are doing it, who knows if WE don’t follow suit? And that, in turn, begs the question: are we going to stop designating gender (i.e. “a male child” or “a female child”) on our official Orthodox Baptismal certificates? I could see allowing the transgenders to be baptized (or chrismated) Orthodox Christians, and I could even see them as being allowed to receive Holy Communion (provided that they are under the guidance of a spiritual father and HE gives the person the “green light” to do so). We don’t know if they’re “searching” for something to be assured of their salvation and they “found” Orthodoxy. But to be Godparents? I don’t know about that. That’s probably where I would draw the line. These people who want to play God have really opened up a can of worms. And instead of taking a hard stance on the issue as a religious institution (in fact, as the MOTHER CHURCH to all of Christianity), we are playing around with the possibility of acceptance. Everyone makes mistakes, but we have to want to live according to God’s will, not our own.
If someone is refusing to accept how God actually created him/her, how does that translate to someone “in good standing” with their faith?
Instead, these folks have fallen into the deception of twisting the concept of “how” God created them, and in recent decades the trend has been to force all those around them to “accept” their twisted view of that as well, and in some instances “under penalty of law”…
At the end of the day, if someone acknowledges their sinfulness, that’s a mindset that a priest can work with. However, if they don’t feel that they are sinful, and they pose the ludicrous claim that “God made them that way” (a.k.a. programmed them to sin), they aren’t in a position to repent as long as that mindset prevails, and the priest can’t do anything with that…
Conclusion…you can’t be baptized if your real views differ from the teachings of the Church…
I am in shock!