On Friday, Pope Francis reiterated his opposition to transgenderism, calling it a “dangerous ideology” and arguing that its supporters are naive if they believe they are on the “path to progress.”
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“Today, gender ideology is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations,” the Pope told Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper. “What makes it dangerous? Because it blurs distinctions and the worth of men and women.”
Over the years, the pontiff has repeatedly spoken out against gender theory while emphasizing the importance of welcoming and pastoral care for transgender people. He has, for example, compared gender ideology to nuclear weapons and genetic manipulation, and he has warned that it is part of a “global war” against marriage and the family.
He has frequently used the term “ideological colonization” to describe situations in which powerful organizations and governments require developing countries to accept abortion, contraception, and Western values in order to receive aid funds. In 2016, he complained to Catholic bishops that schoolchildren were being taught that they could choose their gender. “What are they teaching? Because the books are supplied by the people and institutions who provide you with money.”
According to the Pope, transgenderism ignores the inherent differences between men and women. “All of humanity is the tension of differences,” he explained. “It is to grow through conflict. Gender equality dilutes differences and homogenizes the world, making it all dull and uniform.
In June 2019, the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, which provides official guidance to Catholic schools, issued a document dismissing gender ideology as “nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the realm of feelings and wants.” It went on to say that such theories aim to “annihilate the concept of nature.”
