The Catholic Church strongly denounced gender theory and sex-change operations on Monday.

For years, Pope Francis' critics have argued that he has embraced liberal and progressive ideologies or, at the very least, that he placates liberal Christians by signaling a willingness to embrace progressive ideas.

Francis has no doubt given his critics ammunition.

Last November, for example, the Vatican said that priests can, in some circumstances, baptize transgender-identifying people and that such individuals may serve as godparents. One month later, the Vatican said that same-sex couples and couples in "irregular situations" may receive priestly blessings. Those directives came months after Francis told a trans-identifying person that "God loves us as we are."

But on Monday, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document — Dignitas Infinita, Latin for "Infinite Dignity" — explaining the Catholic Church's high view of human dignity.

The document outlines the theological, philosophical, historical, and scriptural basis for its view, and it lists some "grave violations" of human dignity, including: war, abortion, poverty, violence against women, human trafficking, sexual abuse, assisted suicide and euthanasia, the "marginalization" of people with disabilities, and surrogacy.

Two more "grave violations," according to the document, are gender theory and sex changes.

Gender theory

After establishing that all human life "is a gift from God," the document first states that embracing gender theory is akin to making "oneself God."

"Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel," the document declares.

Second, the document condemns gender theory for trying to eliminate the biological differences between men and women.

"This foundational difference is not only the greatest imaginable difference but is also the most beautiful and most powerful of them. In the male-female couple, this difference achieves the most marvelous of reciprocities. It thus becomes the source of that miracle that never ceases to surprise us: the arrival of new human beings in the world," the document explains.

Because gender theory "envisages a society without sexual differences," it must be rejected, the document instructs.

In fact, it says the only way that people can "fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity" is through acceptance of sexual differences.

Still, the Vatican emphasized that every person — regardless of the ideology or identity — must be respected and not discriminated against.

Sex-change operations

In addressing sex-change procedures, the Vatican centers its instruction on the core Christian idea that humans are created in the "image of God."

Because of this reality, the document explains that sex-change operations — many of which are irreversible — threaten human dignity.

"Any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception," the document explains.

"This is not to exclude the possibility that a person with genital abnormalities that are already evident at birth or that develop later may choose to receive the assistance of healthcare professionals to resolve these abnormalities," it adds. "However, in this case, such a medical procedure would not constitute a sex change in the sense intended here."

The importance of the document cannot be understated.

While many progressive Christian denominations have gone the way of popular culture and embraced far-left gender ideology, the Catholic Church has drawn a line in the sand and is standing firm on traditional and historical Christian teachings.

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