LGBTQ: Vatican says transgender people can be baptised, become godparents

The doctrinal office of the Vatican announced on Thursday that transgender people can be baptised as Catholics, and can become godparents witnesses at Roman Catholic baptisms and religious weddings.

The announcement was in response to the six questions sent by Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro, Brazil, to the Vatican’s doctrinal office in July, asking about the LGBTQ people and their participation in sacraments of baptism and matrimony.

On October 31, the three pages of questions and answers signed by the department’s head, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez and approved by Pope Francis – they published on the Italian department’s website on Wednesday.

Responding to a question of whether transgender people can be baptised, the doctrinal office said they could with some conditions and as long as there is “no risk of causing a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful.”

Also contained in the response, transgender people can be godparents and witnesses at church weddings but only under the discretion of the local priest, who the Vatican said should exercise “pastoral prudence” in his decision.

Recently, Pope Francis attempted to make the church lenient with its stance on LGBTQ people, making the church more welcoming to them, changing the church’s teaching on the issue, including the one that says same-sex attraction is not sinful, but same-sex acts are.