The Vatican said in a new document on
human dignity Monday that it wants to see surrogate motherhood,
or surrogacy, banned worldwide as a "universal crime".
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith's new Declaration
"Dignitas infinita" (Infinite Dignity), which commemorates the
75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and reaffirms "the indispensable nature of the dignity of the
human person in Christian anthropology", says that "the
condemnation of surrogacy, by means of which "the immensely
worthy child becomes a mere object", is also strong.
This is a practice, it said, that "represents a grave violation
of the dignity of the woman and the child.
"A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial
contract."
"Every human life, beginning with that of the unborn child in
its mother's womb, cannot be suppressed, nor become an object of
commodity," says the document.
"In this regard, I consider deplorable the practice of so-called
surrogate motherhood, which seriously damages the dignity of the
woman and the child.
"It is based on the exploitation of a mother's situation of
material need.
"A child is always a gift and never the object of a contract. I
therefore call for a commitment by the international community
to ban this practice universally'.
Italy's rightwing government has tabled a bill to make surrogacy
a universal crime, which would mean that gay couples bringing
their children from a surrogate mother back to Italy would face
prosecution.
The declaration also says that gays must be respected but that
gender theory is extremely dangerous.
The document begins the section on gender theory by stressing
that "every sign of unjust discrimination" against homosexual
persons "is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of
aggression and violence".
It is "contrary to human dignity", the Declaration says, that in
some places "not a few people are "imprisoned, tortured and even
deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual
orientation".
Gender theory, which is "extremely dangerous since it cancels
differences in its claim to make everyone equal", is then
criticised.
The Church, we read, recalls that "human life in all its
dimensions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God.
This gift is to be accepted with gratitude and placed at the
service of the good. Desiring a personal self-determination, as
gender theory prescribes … amounts to a concession to the
age-old temptation to make oneself God".
Gender theory "intends to deny the greatest possible difference
that exists between living beings: sexual difference".
Therefore, " all attempts to obscure reference to the
ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman" are "to be
rejected".
Sex change is also judged negatively since it "risks threatening
the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of
conception". This does not mean, however, excluding the
possibility that "a person with genital abnormalities that are
already evident at birth or that develop later may choose to
receive the assistance of healthcare professionals to resolve
these abnormalities".
In another section, the document says that violence against
women is a global scandal, denying dignity.
Discrimination and violence against women are both condemned.
Among the latter are listed "coercive abortions, which affect
both mother and child, often to satisfy the selfishness of
males" and "the practice of polygamy".
Femicide is also strongly condemned.
"Violence against women is a global scandal, which is
increasingly being recognised.
"While the equal dignity of women is recognised in words, in
some countries the inequalities between women and men are very
serious and even in the most developed and democratic countries
the concrete social reality testifies to the fact that women are
often not recognised as having the same dignity as men", says
the document.
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