Theological Perspectives on the Document Dignitas Infinita

Rev. Thomas Massaro, S.J., is Professor of Moral Theology at Fordham University in New York City.

As a Catholic theologian and a Jesuit priest, I noticed two sets of immediate reactions within the Roman Catholic community to the teaching document Dignitas Infinita. This 15,000-word declaration of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was released on 8 April 2024, timed (roughly so, as is often the case with Vatican promulgations) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the founding documents of the United Nations.

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Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Rights of LGBT+ Persons in Accordance with the Gospel of the UN Independent Expert on SOGI Rights

Thiago Alves Pinto is Director of Studies in Theology and Religion and a department lecturer in Legal Studies in the Department for Continuing Studies, University of Oxford.

On 7 June 2023, the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (hereinafter Independent Expert) published his highly anticipated/feared report on freedom of religion or belief, and freedom from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is safe to say that, given the subject, the report will not please everyone, but like most international decisions on the topic (including Eweida and Others v. The United Kingdom, Bayev and Other v. Russia, and Pavez Pavez v. Chile), the report is legally sound and in line with international human rights law standards. Unfortunately, the topic itself is considered by many as inherently “controversial,” an attitude that naturally impoverishes rational discussion on the subject. Still, while the legal arguments presented by the Independent Expert are not controversial, entrenched ideologies try to keep this debate at a stalemate.

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Is Homocolonialism a Sound Argument to Advance Human Rights for LGBTQ+ People?

Dmytro Vovk is a visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

The concept of “traditional values” is often used to justify limiting women’s and LGBTQ+ rights around the globe. Supporters of traditional values argue that certain types of marriage, family, and sexual intimacy are not acceptable because they violate the dominant values, moral foundations, and patterns of behavior that have been entrenched in their societies for many years or even centuries. Therefore, they argue, the state should ban or restrict these “other” relations as harmful and should support traditional sexual and family relations as desirable and important for social well-being. People engaging in sexual and family practices that deviate from these norms are often labeled as marginals, perverts, or even aliens of the society and the state.

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