The Vatican announced that transgender people can be baptized in the Catholic Church, witnesses at religious weddings, and become godparents on Wednesday, representing the continued liberalization of the Christian denomination under Pope Francis‘s premiership.
The decision, approved by the Pontiff on October 31, was announced in response to six questions sent to the Vatican by Brazilian Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro, who sought clarification regarding LGBT involvement in the church.
“A transgender person, even if they have undergone hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, can receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful, if there are no situations in which there is a risk of generating a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful,” the Vatican stated.
However, priests may refuse to baptize a transgender person if “there is a danger of scandal, undue legitimisation or disorientation in the educational sphere of the church community.”
The church also now permits gay people to be witnesses at Catholic weddings but does not allow them to be godparents to baptized children.
The announcement comes soon after Pope Francis suggested he was open to blessing same-sex relationships on a case-by-case basis last month.