Vatican: Trans People Can Be Baptized Catholic, Become Godparents

The Vatican's doctrinal office said on Wednesday (November 9) that transgender people could be baptized as Catholics and could become godparents.

The Holy See's Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith provided the remarks after the Most Rev. Jose Negri, Bishop of Santo Amaro in Brazil, asked the office regarding the matter in accordance with canon law last July.

However, the office was vague in responding to the question of whether or not a same-sex couple could have a Church baptism for an adopted child or one obtained through a surrogate mother.

The answers to Negri's questions were signed by the Vatican's theology czar, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, and approved by Pope Francis himself on October 31. The answers were also posted on the department's website on Wednesday in Italian and Portuguese.

Vatican: Trans People Can be Baptized Catholic, Become Godparents

(Photo: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
A picture shows St Peter's Basilica at sunset in The Vatican on October 19, 2023.

Balancing Doctrine with Accommodation

Throughout his pontificate, Francis tried to make the Church more welcoming to the LGBT+ community without changing its doctrine on sexuality, including one premise saying that same-sex attraction is not sinful but same-sex acts are, Reuters reported.

In the Vatican's response to Negri, the church said transgender people could be baptized with some conditions as long as there was "no risk of causing a public scandal or disorientation among the faithful." The church added that people could become godparents at baptism and a witness at a church wedding at the discretion and "pastoral prudence" of the local priest.

According to the National Catholic Register, the document added that the role of godparent to a child being baptized into the church was not a right and should not be allowed if there was a danger of causing scandal or confusion to the church community.