Pope condemns abortion, surrogacy, trans surgery in latest document

The Vatican released the “Dignitas Infinita” on Monday, a declaration emphasizing human dignity. The document identifies a dozen modern-day examples of what the Vatican classifies as violations of the dignity of human beings. That list includes abortion and surrogacy. The document cites Pope John Paul II, who condemned abortion in 1995, calling the practice a direct killing of a human being in the initial phase of existence. It went on to cite Pope Francis, who in 2013 described newborns as the most defenseless and innocent among humanity and said every human being is sacred and inviolable.

The document goes on to label surrogacy as an impersonal process that turns a child into a mere object while morphing the desire for parenthood into an unjust entitlement. The Pope also said surrogacy violates a woman’s dignity, leaving her detached from the child growing inside her womb and making her a means to an end for the desires of others. The Vatican called for the practice to be universally banned, adding that it’s ultimately disrespectful to conjugal unions.

What other practices did the document condemn? The document identified, condemned, and explained other alleged violations of human dignity, including assisted suicide, sex changes, and gender theory, to name a few. Additionally, the pontiff included human trafficking, war, marginalization of people with disabilities, and digital violence as other examples. The 20-page declaration had been in the works at the Vatican for five years. Many conservative Catholics have praised the document for taking a stand against gender ideology and sex changes months after the Vatican allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.

Dig deeper: Read my report with Kim Henderson in WORLD Magazine on the pope’s censuring of conservative clergy and larger tensions in the Roman Catholic Church.