Pope Francis: Transgender People Are an ‘Annihilation of Man as the Image of God’

‘God Created Man and Woman; God Created the World Like This and We Are Doing the Exact Opposite.’

While Pope Francis might have a reputation for being a progressive beacon at the head of the Catholic Church, he seems to be having trouble living up to that position, according to Friendly Atheist.

The Catholic Herald reports on a meeting with Polish bishops on July 30, revealing comments the Pope made about transgender people, saying that the idea, “that everyone can choose their own sex” is “the exact opposite” of God’s creation.

Francis told the bishops, “Today, children are taught this at school: that everyone can choose their own sex. And why do they teach this? Because the books come from those people and institutions who give money.” No quote from Francis appears to clarify the remarks and specify which people and institutions are giving money to this cause.

“God created man and woman; God created the world like this and we are doing the exact opposite.” Francis told the bishops.

A press release from Faith in America calls this view, “incredibly naïve.” Eliel Criz, the executive director for Faith in America, said, “In believing that God is only represented in male or female, Pope Francis is effectively eliminating the diversity and complexity of the image of God. Francis also ignores the reality of intersex individuals in his complementary lens.”

Cruz continued, “Pope Francis is denying the full image of God when he denies the transgender community.”

When the Pope was selected, he spoke about homosexuality in what seemed to be a groundbreaking way for the Catholic church. His early comments on LGBT people seemed centered around his message of, “If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them?”

This condemnation of LGBT people isn’t entirely recent, either. In February of 2015, Francis compared trans people to nuclear weapons, saying, “Let’s think of the nuclear arms, of the possibility to annihilate in a few instants a very high number of human beings. Let’s also think of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognize the order of creation.” Francis called gender transition, “a new sin.”

In the recent meeting, Francis echoed his annihilation views, saying, “It is a global problem: the exploitation of creation and the exploitation of people. We are living at a time when humankind as the image of God is being annihilated.”

Pope Francis quoted his predecessor, saying, “We must think about what Pope Benedict said- ‘It’s the epoch of sin against God the Creator.”

Francis concluded, “We are living a moment of annihilation of man as image of God.”

 

Image by JEFFREY BRUNO/ALETEIA via Flickr and a CC license