on this year's solemnity of the Annunciation the very day the church celebrated Christ's conception the Vatican released a new document this week upholding the Dignity of all human life the 20page Declaration called dignitas infinita or infinite dignity has been in the works for 5 years after recent revisions it was approved by Pope Francis in late March and published Monday Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez head of the vatican's dicastery for the doctrine of the faith oversaw the writing of the document which reiterates the church's teaching that everyone has a god-given inalienable dignity IT addresses grave violations to
that inherent human dignity which can range from war to sexual abuse to assisted suicide but dignitas infinita marks the first time the church's Universal teaching Authority has weighed in on the topic of gender Theory and sex change procedures with such great Focus drawing the heaviest amount of media attention on the topic of gender theory dignitas infinita states all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected Cardinal Fernandez addressed that during a Vatican press briefing this week because we believe that these ideologies instead of helping to recognize
dignity impoverish a humanistic Vision where man and woman are the most beautiful combination in the greatest difference that Humanity contains this is unparalleled on sex change surgery dignitas infinita States we are called to protect our humanity and this means in the first place accepting it and respecting it as it was created it follows that any sex change intervention as a rule risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception the new DDF Vatican document hit on other hot button issues as well saying the practice of surrogacy violates the Dignity of
the child and surrogacy also violates the Dignity of the woman let us try to be consistent with the Dignity of the human being regardless of any circumstance whether or not it came out of the womb the dignity is the same and on the topic of abortion the Vatican does not mince words in dignitas infinita citing St John Paul II and that procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing by whatever means it is carried out of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence extending from conception to birth dignitas andinita is
a wide- ranging document that Fernandez says reflects Pope francis's pastoral priorities [Music]