The Catholic faith is reflected in the following foundational beliefs about sexual identity:
- Creation in God's Image: God created each person body and soul “in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). The dignity of each person and the source of his or her most important identity is found in this creation in the image and likeness of God (CCC §364).
- Sexual Identity Revealed by the Body: God uses the body to reveal to each person his or her sexual identity as male or female. A person’s embrace of his or her God-given sexual identity is an essential part of living a fulfilled relationship with God, with oneself, and with each other (Laudato Si §155).
- Unity of Body and Soul: The harmonious integration of a person’s sexual identity with his or her sex is an expression of the inner unity and reality of the human person made body and soul in the image and likeness of God (CCC §364-65).
- Complementarity and Equality: The physical, moral, and spiritual differences between men and women are equal and complementary. The flourishing of family life and society depend in part on how this complementarity and equality are lived out (CCC §2333-34).
- Respect, Charity, and Truth: All students and families deserve interactions with Catholic school communities that are marked by respect, charity, and the truth about human dignity and God’s love (Deus Caritas Est §20).
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997)
References: §364, 1907, 2297, 2333, 2393, 2521, 2522, 2523
Selected Citations
The following selected excerpts from various sources are intended to provide some information (not exhaustive) in the area of “gender theory”/“gender ideology." They may be helpful for educational purposes in the pastoral and public policy context.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Sexual Identity
(No. 2333) “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual differences and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and society depends in part on how the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”
(No. 2393) “By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.”
Body and Soul
(No. 364) “The human body shares in the dignity of 'the image of God': it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the Body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him, they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason, man may not despise his bodily life. Rather, he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”
Modesty
(No. 2521) “Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.”
(No. 2522) “Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love… Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is an evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.”
(No. 2523) “There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.”
Privacy
(No. 1907) “First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person.Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.’”
Mutilation
(No. 2297) “Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.”
Pope Francis:
- Laudato Si (2015) (§155)
- Amoris Laetitia(2016) (§56, 285, 286)
- Audiences (1/16/15; 3/23/15; 4/15/15; 6/8/15;9/10/15; 7/27/16; 10/1/16; 11/27/16)
Pope Benedict XVI:
- Deus Caritas Est(2005) (§5, 11)
- Address to the Bishops of the United States ofAmerica (1/19/12)
- Audiences (9/22/11; 12/21/12)
Pope Saint John Paul II:
- Letter to Families (1994) (§6, 19)
- Theology of the Body Wednesday Audiences(9/5/1979-11/28/1984)
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
- Persona Humana(1975)
Congregation for Catholic Education:
“Male and Female He Created Them”: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education (2019)
Pontifical Council for the Family:
Family, Marriage and “DeFacto” Unions (2000) (§8)
