By DAVID CRARY (AP National Writer)
Transgender Catholics — along with a priest who welcomes them to his parish — said they were disappointed on Monday with a new Vatican document that rejects the basic idea of changing one’s biological sex.
Basically, it was a reaffirmation of long-standing Catholic doctrine, but the disappointment was stronger because recent actions by Pope Francis had given some trans Catholics hope that the church might become more accepting.
The pope has embraced a group of transgender women at his weekly general audiences. And last year, the Vatican stated that it’s acceptable, under certain conditions, for trans people to be baptized as Catholics and serve as godparents.
Maxwell Kuzma, a 32-year-old lifelong Catholic transgender man working as a film editor and writer in rural Ohio, said, “A document like this is very hurtful to the larger LGBTQ+ community but especially to the trans community.”
“We have seen the care and love Pope Francis has personally shown to the trans community in his personal interactions, yet this document fails to extend that same respect, love, and support,” Kuzma said via email.
The new document never uses the word “transgender,” which troubled Michael Sennett, a transgender man involved with an LGBTQ+ ministry at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
“Avoiding the word ‘transgender’ speaks to limiting the dignity of transgender people,” Sennett said via email.
He also was dismayed by the document’s admonition that God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings, and that people must not tinker with that or try to “make oneself God.”
Christine Zuba, a transgender woman from New Jersey, noted with dismay that the Vatican doctrine office’s 20-page document declared gender-affirming surgery to be a “grave violation of human dignity,” on par with such global ills as war and human trafficking.
“Transgender persons are being condemned for who we are, and more importantly we become subject to potential harm,” Zuba said in an email. “It again (sadly) gives fuel to those who continue to deny our existence.”
“We exist, but we do not. We have dignity, but we do not. I don’t even want to think about what the religious and political right will make of this.“
As for Pope Francis, Zuba praised him as “a good and holy man.”
“Our church however still has a LOT to learn,” she added. “We are Not an Ideology. Talk to us. Learn.”
The Catholic Church in the U.S. isn't all the same when it comes to transgender policies. Some dioceses have strict rules against recognizing gender transitions. But some parishes, like the Church of Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken, New Jersey, have welcomed trans people. Its priest, the Rev. Alexander Santora, invited Zuba a few years ago to speak at its annual Pride Mass.
Santora told The Associated Press that he was encouraged by some parts of the new Vatican document, including its statement that homosexuality should not be punished by law.
“I'm worried, though, that this document's tone might cause more harm to trans individuals and increase the hate that is growing in the U.