Pope Francis recently met with a group of 11 transgender and intersex Catholics, including LGBTQ+ allies, in a 90-minute audience in the Vatican City. The meeting, facilitated by Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, centred on the personal testimonies of five individuals about their experiences as transgender and intersex Catholics. One of the Read more
In a groundbreaking move within the Catholic Church, Brother Christian Matson, a diocesan hermit, has announced plans to come out as transgender. “This Sunday, Pentecost 2024, I’m planning to come out publicly as transgender” Matson told Religion News Service on May 17. Matson, who has a doctorate in religious studies, said he was speaking out Read more
Surrogacy and gender-affirming surgery are two ethical issues discussed in a new Vatican document, “Infinite Dignity.” Some Catholics support Infinite Dignity’s message. Others are dismayed. Surrogate born woman against “womb renting” A woman born in 1991 via a surrogate mother, who is now a leading campaigner for the abolition of “womb renting”, is of a Read more
Priests at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City were surprised by the “irreverence and disrespect” that occurred during a funeral for a transgender activist last week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in his first public comments on it. “We didn’t know the background. We don’t do FBI checks on people who want to be buried,” Read more
Transgender students are now permitted to enrol at a women’s-only Catholic college in Indiana Its board-approved nondiscrimation policy followed the putting together of the College’s “President’s Task Force for Gender Identity and Expression” earlier this year. St Mary’s Catholic College’s updated policy says it “considers admission for undergraduate applicants whose sex is female or who Read more
A US bishops’ conference leader has suggested exploring “various options” to ensure that only people assigned male at birth are ordained to the Catholic priesthood. Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki has alleged that transgender men have been “unknowingly admitted” to diocesan seminaries and houses of formation for religious orders. Listecki, who serves as the chairman of Read more
A 15-year-old Kavanagh College pupil who identifies as neither male nor female has been a “little surprised” at just how supportive the Dunedin Catholic school has been. During the last term of last year Arryn, who identifies as non-binary and asks to be referred to using the pronouns they, their and them instead of he Read more
Acceptance, a Sydney organisation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, “have celebrated a weekly Mass continuously for most of the past 40 years”, notes Kristina Keneally in a recent address. She goes on to speak about how it is that she is a feminist and still a Catholic, and that while she finds in the Read more