Transgender people can be godparents at Roman Catholic baptisms, witnesses at religious weddings, and receive baptism themselves, according to the Vatican’s doctrinal office, in response to a bishop’s question on Wednesday. The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, however, was evasive when asked whether a same-sex couple might receive a church baptism for an adopted child or one obtained through a surrogate mother. In July, Brazilian Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro emailed the doctrinal office with six queries on LGBT individuals and their participation in the sacraments of baptism and marriage.
The department’s leader, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, signed the three pages of questions and answers, which were authorized by Pope Francis on Oct. 31. They were posted on the department’s website on Wednesday, with the Italian word for “transsexuals” in the title. Francis, 86, has attempted to make the Church more welcoming to the LGBT community without modifying Church teachings, such as one that says same-sex attraction is not sinful, but same-sex behaviors are. In response to an inquiry about whether transgender people can be baptized, the doctrinal office stated that they can if certain requirements are met and there is “no risk of causing a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful.”
This is an important step forward in the Church, seeing transgender people not only as people but as Catholics
It said transgender people could be godparents at a baptism at the discretion of the local priest as well as witnesses at a church wedding, but the local priest should exercise “pastoral prudence” in his decision. “This is an important step forward in the Church seeing transgender people not only as people (in a Church where some say they don’t really exist) but as Catholics,” Father James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest and supporter of LGBT rights in the Church said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Francis has met with transgender people, and in July, he told a transgender person, “Even if we are sinners, he (God) draws near to help us. The Lord loves us as we are; this is God’s crazy love.”
According to the document, a person in a same-sex relationship might likewise be a witness at a Catholic wedding, citing existing Church canonical legislation that contains no bar against it. The response was less clear when it came to same-sex couples and their involvement in baptism, which is the introduction to the church for newborns, children, and adults. The Brazilian bishop wanted to know if a same-sex couple who had adopted or obtained a child from a surrogate mother could have the child baptized in a Catholic rite. According to the response, for a child of a same-sex couple to be baptized, there must be “a well-founded hope that it will be educated in the Catholic religion.” There was a similarly nuanced response to the question of whether a person in a same-sex relationship could be a godparent at a church baptism. It said the person had to “lead a life that conforms to the faith”.