Vatican backs Biblical view of gender

The Vatican released a statement for Catholic educators on Monday criticizing the culture of gender fluidity and reaffirming a Biblical view of biological sex. The official statement, titled “Male and Female He Created Them,” comes from the Congregation for Catholic Education, which is the educational branch of the Vatican administration.

Gender fluidity is “often founded on nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the realm of feelings and wants, or momentary desires provoked by emotional impulses and the will of the individual, as opposed to anything based on the truths of existence,” the Vatican wrote.

The statement emphasized the necessity of listening to others respectfully and avoiding discrimination in matters of gender identity. But it reminded Catholic teachers that “the Holy Scripture reveals the wisdom of the Creator’s design, which has assigned as a task to man his body, his masculinity and femininity.”

The Vatican relied upon the statements of previous popes, philosophers, catechisms, theologians, and Biblical references. “Philosophical analysis also demonstrates that sexual difference between male and female is constitutive of human identity,” the document stated.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops began its annual Spring General Assembly on Tuesday in Baltimore. The bishops will consider new measures for accountability for abuse in the church. The meeting follows a global order by Pope Francis last month requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.