Vatican confirms that trans people can be baptised and act as godparents
The Vatican has released guidance that indicates that transgender people can be baptised, serve as godparent and witness weddings in the Roman Catholic church.
The document signed by Pope Francis and Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernándezl on 31 October was published on the department’s website on Wednesday (8 November).
The new guidance published by the vatican department of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith states that “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.” Furthermore, a trans person “can be admitted to the role of godfather or godmother” and that “there is nothing” in canon law denying transgender people the right to act as a witness for a marriage ceremony.
This includes people who are in a same-sex relationship. Yet, priests should utilise “pastoral prudence” in their decision to do so.
