(CP) Roman Catholic bishops in England and Wales released guidance last week urging against medical and social transitioning for trans-identified children.
“Medical intervention for youngsters shouldn’t be supported,” the bishops wrote in an April 24 document titled “Intricately Woven by the Lord,” which serves as a “pastoral reflection on gender.”
“Social ‘transition’ can have a formative effect on a baby’s development and this ought to be avoided with young children.”
The bishops expressed compassion toward adults and kids fighting gender dysphoria, presenting it as a symptom of human fallenness that awaits redemption through Jesus Christ.
“We cannot encourage or give support to reconstructive or drug-based medical intervention that harms the body,” the bishops wrote. “Nor can we legitimize or uphold a way of life that is just not respectful of the reality and vocation of every man and every woman, called to live based on the divine plan.”
“Rather, when a family or person experiencing these challenges seeks to be accompanied on their Christian journey, our aim is to assist them rediscover and cherish their humanity because it was conceived and created by God, body and soul,” the bishops continued.Â
The document stressed the importance of remembering that humans are created within the image of God, saying humans are inextricably physical and spiritual beings and called to honor God’s image in them by not pursuing interventions to “reassign” their gender.
“Pastoral accompaniment must flow from an acceptance and celebration of the body as created, respect for folks as primary educators and uphold best practice when it comes to safeguarding principles,” the bishops said.
The document’s themes echoed the guidance the Vatican issued earlier this month. On April 22, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a declaration titled “Dignitas Infinita,” which clarifies the Catholic Church’s positions on various issues related to human dignity.
“[E]very person, no matter sexual orientation, should be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every unjust sign of discrimination’ is to be fastidiously avoided, particularly any type of aggression and violence,” the document said.
While acknowledging that LGBT people need to be treated with dignity, the guidance condemned “gender theory” for instance of “a private self-determination” that “amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God.”
Such a worldview, the guidance maintained, rejects the teaching that “human life, in all its dimensions, each physical in spiritual, is a present from God” that “is to be accepted with gratitude and placed on the service of the nice.”
The 10-page pastoral reflection from the English and Welsh bishops was reportedly prepared over two years. Its release so near the Vatican’s guidance was not planned, based on Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who serves as archbishop of Westminster.
Even so, Nichols told the media last Wednesday that each documents are in “absolute harmony,” based on The Irish News.
Secular authorities within the United Kingdom have also questioned the efficacy of transgender interventions for minors.
Earlier this month, the discharge of the “Cass Report” urged the National Health Services to “review the policy on masculinizing/feminizing hormones” and really useful “extreme caution” when prescribing cross-sex hormones to minors.
The review was commissioned in response to the exponential increase of youth in search of treatment for gender dysphoria over the past decade and noted the poor quality of studies examining the long-term use of puberty blockers to treat children with gender dysphoria.
“There ought to be a transparent clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage moderately than waiting until a person reaches 18,” the report said.
After the report’s release, the NHS advised its “gender clinics to implement a pause” on first appointments for those under 18.
A recent study by 11 scientists with the Mayo Clinic found that boys who take puberty-blocking drugs may very well be susceptible to developing atrophied testicles and long-term infertility issues, despite claims that such drugs are reversible.
