ZENIT News / Rome
On March 1-2, 2024, the International Congress “Man-Woman Image of God : For An Anthropology of Vocations” was held in the Synod Hall, adjacent to Paul VI Hall in Vatican City. The Center for Research and Anthropology of Vocations, sponsored by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, promoted the congress. On Friday morning, March 1, Pope Francis was among the speakers. Given that his health had not improved, he had one of his collaborators read the address he had prepared, but before the reading of the address, the Holy Father said spontaneously: (. . . ) I want to stress one thing: it’s very important that this meeting be held, this meeting between men and women, because the ugliest danger today is gender ideology, which erases the differences. I have requested studies on this ugly ideology of our time, which erases the differences and make everything the same; to erase the difference is to erase humanity. Instead, man and woman are in a fruitful “tension.” I remember reading a novel of the early 20th century, written by the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury: “The Lord of the World.” The novel speaks of the future and it’s prophetic, because it shows this tendency to erase all differences. It’s interesting to read it, if one has the time, because all of today’s problems are there; that man was a prophet. In fact, already in mid-January 2024, the current Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that the Dicastery was preparing what the Pope now confirms: a new document that would address social questions, but which would also be a criticism of moral issues, “such as sex change, surrogacy, gender ideologies, etc.” The Pontiff’s words against gender ideology aren’t a novelty: he has condemned that ideology on many occasions, as a form of ideological colonization. The last time was in his address to the Diplomatic Corps, accredited to the Holy See, at the beginning of 2024. This positioning of the Pope frames more recent documents such as Fiducia Supplicans: while the Declaration on blessings is a document of a pastoral character, which seeks the welcome of those who with right intention accept to walk with the Church that is Mother, with that other document one moves to the doctrinal part, which addresses and answers the ideology. However, the Pope’s words have appeared in a moment of LGBT+ retreat of ideological colonization, in countries such as El Salvador and Argentina. On Tuesday, February 27, the spokesman of the Presidency of Argentina announced the prohibition of the use of so-called “inclusive language” in that country’s public administration. In El Salvador, the Minister of Education confirmed — also on February 27 –, the prohibition of gender ideology in textbooks and study programs in the country’s public schools.
