Initial thoughts on Dignitas Infinita

On 8th April 2024 the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published a declaration, “Dignitas Infinita: On Human Dignity”.

This fairly long document is the result of five years’ work – and several revisions – by experts from the Vatican body that examines questions of Church teaching.

Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity” in Latin) touches on many threats to human dignity in today’s world: war, poverty, femicide, cyberbullying, human trafficking, abuse, exclusion of disabled people, the suffering of migrants, euthanasia, and so on.

There is a lot worth pondering in this document. Perhaps inevitably, in our society riven by so-called ‘culture wars’, a lot of press attention has focussed on the document’s approach towards ‘hot-button issues’ such as gender theory and sex changes, which actually come very low down the list of topics raised. The document restates traditional positions, which some LGBT Catholic movements have found disappointing.

There are things I find both inspiring and disappointing in the document.

I think it’s important to bear in mind that the Vatican’s classical approach to theology is deduced from what it regards as fixed principles. Many theologians today favour a more relational approach, induced from human experience and our growing scientific understanding. This was acknowledged by the head of the Dicastary, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, at the press conference launching the document, who emphasised that the Church must constantly be in dialogue with the world to refine its understanding of cultural and societal issues.

Whilst some in the LGBT+ community will be disappointed by the document’s statements, it should be read alongside reports of its launch, at which Cardinal Fernandez lamented that in many countries it’s illegal to be gay and restated that Catholics should not support this position.

The document affirms the infinite dignity of the human person, and that is what many Catholic ministries among LGBT+ seek to do. Rather than seeing labels, the Church needs to welcome everyone as people. Whoever you are – gay, straight, bisexual, trans, non-binary – you are welcome, because you have infinite dignity as God’s child.