‘Utopia of neutral’: Pope Francis slams gender-changing technologies

Pope Francis denounced the new technologies which make it easier for people to change gender, saying that the advancements are a risk to the creation of new life.

Francis criticized this “utopia of the ‘neutral’” during his speech at the 2017 assembly of the Vatican’s bioethics advisory board, the Pontifical Academy for Life, on Thursday and called for the Church to “do her part” in the “true cultural revolution that lies on the horizon.”

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“The biological and psychical manipulation of sexual difference, which biomedical technology allows us to perceive as completely available to free choice – which it is not! – thus risks dismantling the source of energy that nurtures the alliance between man and woman and which renders it creative and fruitful,” said Francis.

The objective of the Pontifical Academy for Life is the defense and promotion of the value of human life and of the dignity of the person, according to the group.

The comments are in line with the Vatican’s criticism of “gender theory” which refers to the idea that sexual orientation and identity are a choice, and not a result of nature, according to Crux Now.

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While gender theory was the main point of discussion during his first meeting with the new academy members, the board also represents the Catholic Church by voicing its stance on sexual ethics, morality, abortion and euthanasia - which all fall under the Pope’s umbrella of human life and creation.