“This is the reason it is so urgent to present a true vision of man within this world, or else we will lose track,” he stated.
According to him, the vision of the Church can be understood using both pure reason and Sacred Scripture. The human body is a part of the human being in an “essential way.”
Eijk stated, “We have both a physical and a spiritual dimension. Both are essential for us as human beings.”
Contrary views depict the body, “something extraneous to the person and then as a pure means, which is valued according to how it’s attributed to it, by the human being.” This modern view helps to justify assisted suicide, abortion and other immoral acts.
The cardinal referred to the previous attempts of the pope to address gender theories, but said that they don’t address the topic as a central theme.
Pope Francis called for recognition of the body, in its feminine or masculine, in the 2015 Encyclical Si’ on God’s Creation and Care for the Environment. He also encouraged acknowledging its “direct relationship to the environment and other living beings”.
“Accepting our bodies as God’s gift will allow us to accept the world and welcome it as our shared home. However, thinking that our bodies are in control of ourselves can lead us to believe that we have complete power over all creation. “A genuine human ecology requires that we learn to accept our bodies and to take care of them.
In Amoris Laetitia (2016), Pope Francis said that although genders are not “undefined categories”, the masculine or feminine can’t be separated from God’s creation. He talked about how individuals must learn to accept their bodies, especially young people.
The exhortation was also cited by the cardinal.
The topic is also addressed in other Vatican sources. In June 2019, the Congregation for Catholic Education condemned gender theory as a “cultural revolution” and published “Male And Female He Created Him” in which it explained the history of the mindset and the wide movement to adopt laws and policies that align with its vision of humanity.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior journalist at Catholic News Agency. He was awarded the 2014 Catholic Relief Services Egan Journalism Fellowship.