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Our New Galileo Affair
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 December 2023
Abstract
This essay argues that the current Roman Catholic ecclesial climate with respect to its teachings on gender identity and sexual orientation constitutes our own contemporary version of the Galileo Affair. After a consideration of the historical circumstances of the Galileo Affair of the 17th century, I argue not only that the institutional risk factors for a subsequent Galileo Affair have not been adequately mitigated; I argue also that the presence of discourse impasse, preemptive judgments, and exclusionary policies on the part of Church leaders make it likely that we are in the midst of another Galileo Affair.
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References
1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §2357, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM.
2 “Special Injunction (26 February 1616),” in The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History, ed. Finocchiaro, Maurice A. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), Google Scholar, and “Consultants’ Report on Copernicanism (24 February 1616),” in The Galileo Affair, 146–47, respectively.
3 Fantoli, Annibale, The Case of Galileo: A Closed Question? trans. George V. Coyne, SJ (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012), 99–100.Google Scholar
4 See Blackwell, Richard, “Could There Be Another Galileo Case?,” in Cambridge Companion to Galileo, ed., Machamer, Peter (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), .Google Scholar
5 “Consultants’ Report on Copernicanism,” in The Galileo Affair, 146.
6 See Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 6–11.
7 See Maurice A. Finocchiaro, introduction to The Galileo Affair, 24.
8 Council of Trent, “Decree Concerning the Edition and the Use of Sacred Books” (Session IV, 08 April 1546),” in Dogmatic Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent and Vatican Council I Plus the Decree on the Immaculate Conception and the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX (Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1977 [1912]), Google Scholar. See also Blackwell, “Could There Be Another Galileo Case?,” 353.
9 Incidentally, it should be noted that both Luther and Melanchthon opposed Copernicanism as well. For his part, Luther regarded Copernicus as a “mad man” who “wanted to turn astronomy on its head.” See Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 45.
10 See Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 78ff.
11 See Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 49–52.
12 “Cardinal Bellarmine to Foscarini (12 April 1615),” in The Galileo Affair, 67–68.
13 “Cardinal Bellarmine to Foscarini (12 April 1615),” in The Galileo Affair, 68.
14 “Cardinal Bellarmine to Foscarini (12 April 1615),” in The Galileo Affair, 68–69. For more commentary on this point, see Fantoli, , Galileo: For Copernicanism and for the Church, trans. George V. Coyne, SJ (Vatican City: Vatican Observatory Foundation, 1994), Google Scholar, and Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 78–84. See also Ernan McMullin, “Galileo on Science and Scripture,” in Cambridge Companion to Galileo, 283.
15 “Cardinal Bellarmine’s Certificate (26 May 1616),” in The Galileo Affair, 153.
16 See Fantoli, Galileo, 469.
17 Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 120. See also, McMullin, “Galileo on Science and Scripture,” in Cambridge Companion to Galileo, 272.
18 See Finocchiaro, introduction to The Galileo Affair, 5–10.
19 For these biographical details I follow Peter Machamer, in the introduction to the Cambridge Companion to Galileo, 1–26, and Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 5–31.
20 Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 22–23.
21 See Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 73–74.
22 Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 53. Here Fantoli is quoting anti-Copernican Aristotelian philosopher Ludovico delle Colombe, who published his Against the Motion of the Earth in 1611.
23 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 93.
24 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 94.
25 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 96.
26 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 97. More pointedly, Galileo makes it clear that another embarrassment would befall the church ad extra, namely the scorn of nonbelievers:
Now, it is very scandalous, as well as harmful and to be avoided at all costs, that any infidel should hear a Christian speak about these things as if he were doing so in accordance with Christian Scripture and should see him err so deliriously as to be forced into laughter … For how can they believe our books in regard to the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they catch a Christian committing an error about something they know very well, when they declare false his opinion taken from those books, and when they find these full of fallacies in regard to things they have already been able to observe or to establish by unquestionable argument? (“Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” 112).
27 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 104.
28 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 101, quoting Augustine, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis. A more recent translation of this passage can be found in Augustine, , The Literal Meaning of Genesis, Vol. 1, trans. John Hammond Taylor, SJ (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), Google Scholar.
29 Augustine, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis, 1.18.37.
30 Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 85.
31 “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina,” in The Galileo Affair, 96. See also, Galileo’s words a little later (104):
I should think that it would be proper to ascertain the facts first, so that they could guide us in finding the true meaning of Scripture; this would be found to agree absolutely with demonstrated facts, even though prima facie the words would sound otherwise, since two truths cannot contradict each other.
32 “Considerations on the Copernican Opinion,” in The Galileo Affair, 82.
33 “Considerations on the Copernican Opinion,” in The Galileo Affair, 83.
34 See John Hammond Taylor SJ, “Introduction,” in Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, 10. Also, Augustine, , De Doctrina Christiana, trans. Edmund Hill, OP (New York: New City Press, 1996), CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
35 “In the month of February, 1616, the Lord Cardinal Bellarmine told me that, as the opinion of Copernicus, if adopted absolutely, was contrary to Holy Scripture, it must neither be held nor defended but that it could be taken and used hypothetically,” quoted in Fantoli, Galileo, 403.
36 “Galileo’s Abjuration (22 June 1633),” in The Galileo Affair, 292.
37 Finocchiaro, introduction to The Galileo Affair, 13–15.
38 See Machamer, introduction to the Cambridge Companion to Galileo, 23–24.
39 See Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 206–07.
40 See Fantoli, Galileo, 463; also Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 215–16.
41 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (October 31, 1992), https://www.pas.va/en/magisterium/saint-john-paul-ii/1992-31-october.html.
42 See, for example, Alan Cowell, “After 350 Years, Vatican Says Galileo Was Right: It Moves,” New York Times, October 31, 1992, https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html.
43 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 12.
44 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 5 (emphasis removed), and 9, respectively.
45 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 5.
46 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 5 (italics in original).
47 Fantoli writes, “In agreement with many Galileo scholars, I do not think that [Galileo] ever claimed to have certain proofs of Copernicanism … If anything, the accusation would be that he had erred by considering as valid an argument that was not so. But this is an error of judgment (found not infrequently even in the greatest of modern scientists), not an indication of infidelity to the experimental method” (The Case of Galileo, 244).
48 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 2–3.
49 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 2.
50 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 12.
51 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 6.
52 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 12.
53 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 7.
54 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 13 (emphasis in original).
55 Both of these quotes are taken from the Pontifical Academy’s website (https://www.pas.va/en/about/goals.html).
56 All of these citations are drawn from the Pontifical Academy’s statutes (https://www.pas.va/en/about/statutes.html).
57 These tales are transmitted in Fantoli, The Case of Galileo, 215–47.
58 John Paul II, Address to the Plenary Session on The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 14.
59 This definition as well as the aforementioned questions I have borrowed from the National Institute of Social Sciences are from “What Is ‘Social Science?,’” https://www.socialsciencesinstitute.org/what-is-social-science.
60 There are many resources available that consolidate these positions, for which I provide a summary in the following paragraphs. For ecclesial resources related to homosexuality, the reader can consult the following documents from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith [formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith], Persona Humana (November 7, 1975), https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html, §8; Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (October 1, 1986), https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html; Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons (July 24, 1992), https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19920724_homosexual-persons_en.html; Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons (June 3, 2003), https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html; and, most recently, Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a Dubium Regarding the Blessing of the Unions of Persons of the Same Sex (March 15, 2021), https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/03/15/210315b.html. The most recent document concerning homosexuality from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care (November 14, 2006), https://www.usccb.org/resources/ministry-to-persons-of-homosexual-iinclination_0.pdf. Teachings on homosexuality are also summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM, §2357–2359, https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM. The sole document issued from the Vatican concerning transgender and gender nonbinary identities is from the Dicastery for Culture and Catholic Education [formerly the Congregation for Catholic Education], “Male and Female He Created Them”: Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education (February 2, 2019), https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20190202_maschio-e-femmina_en.pdf. The USCCB Committee on Doctrine recently released a doctrinal note that has relevance for transgender and gender nonbinary persons seeking medical care during their transitions; see “On the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Body” (March 20, 2023), https://www.usccb.org/resources/Doctrinal%20Note%202023-03-20.pdf.
61 See John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem (August 15, 1988), https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1988/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19880815_mulieris-dignitatem.html. Here the vocation of women is directed essentially toward motherhood or virginity, see §17–22.
62 Catechism of the Catholic Church, §2357. The Catechism here quotes Persona Humana, §8.
63 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, §7–8 (emphasis mine).
64 Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Consideration Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, 4 (emphasis mine).
65 Dicastery for Culture and Catholic Education, Male and Female He Created Them, 1 (emphasis mine). The Congregation is here quoting from a 2011 public address of Benedict XVI.
66 Dicastery for Culture and Catholic Education, Male and Female He Created Them, 32.
67 The Catechism, for example, mentions that, for homosexuality, “its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained” (§2357). To this extent, then, the testimony of psychology is helpful in clarifying the warrant for official church teaching in this area.
68 Roughgarden, Joan, Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), Google Scholar. See also Fausto-Sterling, Anne, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, updated ed. (New York: Basic Books, 2020)Google Scholar.
69 Roughgarden, Evolution’s Rainbow, 144.
70 See Roughgarden, Evolution’s Rainbow, 138–48. Though a number of studies have focused on human animals alone in an attempt to discern a biological basis to homosexuality, a 2019 study has found that non-heterosexual sexuality in humans is too complex to predict on the basis of genetics alone. See Ganna, et al., “Large-Scale GWAS Reveals Insights into the Genetic Architecture of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior,” Science 365, no. 6456 (August 30 , 2019)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat7693.
71 American Psychological Association, “Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts” (August 5, 2009), https://www.apa.org/about/policy/sexual-orientation.
72 Just the Facts Coalition, Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel (2008), 5, https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/just-the-facts.pdf.
73 Dicastery for Culture and Catholic Education, Male and Female He Created Them, 24.
74 Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, 3. The purpose of the text, now in its second edition, was to provide a biological basis for an argument originally made by feminist philosopher Judith Butler, who believed that not only our ideas about gender, but also our ideas about sex, were socially constructed. Butler writes, “In other words, ‘sex’ is an idea construct which is forcibly materialized through time. It is not a simple fact or static condition of the body, but a process whereby regulatory norms materialize ‘sex’ and achieve this materialization through a forcible reiteration of norms” (Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter [New York: Routledge, 1993], xii).
75 Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body, 81.
76 American Psychiatric Association, “What Is Gender Dysphoria?” (August 2022), https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria.
77 American Psychological Association, “Transgender People, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression” (2014), https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/transgender. Importantly, this recognizes that not all people who experience gender dysphoria will later identify as transgender.
78 There is a lively debate at present about the reversibility of certain hormonal treatments, especially in the context of adolescent transgender patient care. For more information, see WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health)’s Standards of Care, 8th edition, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644, chap. 6; and Emily Bazelon, “The Battle over Gender Therapy,” New York Times Magazine, June 15, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/magazine/gender-therapy.html.
79 Bustos, , et al., “Regret after Gender-affirmation Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prevalence,” Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery—Global Open 9, no. 3 (March 2021): CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33968550/.
80 Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family (March 19, 2016), https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia_en.pdf, §56.
81 Jason Salzman, “Colorado’s Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ Won’t Stop the Catholic Church,” Rewire News Group, January 28, 2019, https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2019/01/28/colorados-ban-on-conversion-therapy-wont-stop-the-catholic-church/. For past recommendations, see United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers” (1997), https://www.usccb.org/resources/Always%20Our%20Children.pdf. This document was superseded by “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care” (2006), https://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/publications/upload/ministry-to-persons-of-homosexual-iInclination.pdf. Both documents, however, provide cautious recommendations of the practice, the former on page 6, and the latter on page 7.
82 American Psychological Association, “Banning Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts: Suggested Discussion Points with Resources to Oppose Transgender Exclusion Bills,” https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/sexual-orientation-change.
83 See “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination,” https://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/publications/upload/ministry-to-persons-of-homosexual-iInclination.pdf, 7. This practice was also recommended in the earlier version of this document, “Always Our Children,” https://www.usccb.org/resources/Always%20Our%20Children.pdf, 6.
84 Most Rev. Michael F. Burbidge, “A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology,” Diocese of Arlington, August 12, 2021, https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/bishop/public-messages/2021/a-catechesis-on-the-human-person-and-gender-ideology/.
85 Schutz, Paul, “En-Gendering Creation Anew: Rethinking Ecclesial Statements on Science, Gender, and Sexuality with William R. Stoeger, SJ,” Horizons 48 (2021): .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
86 Schutz, “En-Gendering Creation Anew,” 54.
87 Michael J. O’Loughlin, “Firing of L.G.B.T. Catholic Church Workers Raises Hard (and New) Questions,” America, February 13, 2018, https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/02/13/firing-lgbt-catholic-church-workers-raises-hard-and-new-questions.
88 Most Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, “Decree Regarding Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ and Related Pastoral Issues,” June 12, 2017, https://newwaysministryblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/same-sex-marriage-policies-decree-6-12-2017.pdf.
89 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination, https://www.usccb.org/resources/ministry-to-persons-of-homosexual-iInclination_0.pdf.
90 Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, §14–18.
91 Archdiocese of Milwaukee, “Catechesis and Policy on Questions Concerning Gender Theory” (January 20, 2022), https://www.archmil.org/ArchMil/attachments/2022GenderTheoryfinal.pdf. This document joins a number of others just like it, coming out of places like the Diocese of Marquette, “Created in the Image and Likeness of God: An Instruction on Some Aspects of the Pastoral Care of Persons with Same-Sex Attraction and Gender Dysphoria” (July 29, 2021), https://dioceseofmarquette.org/pastoral-messages-instructions-and-resources; and the Archdiocese of St. Louis, “Compassion and Challenge” (June 1, 2020), https://www.archstl.org/Portals/0/Pastoral%20letters/Compassion%20and%20Challenge%20-%20letter%20size.pdf. For reporting around this issue, see Brian Roewe, “Milwaukee Archdiocese Takes Aim at Trans Persons in Sweeping New Policy,” National Catholic Reporter, January 26, 2022, https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/milwaukee-archdiocese-takes-aim-trans-persons-sweeping-new-policy.
92 Diocese of Marquette, “Created in the Image and Likeness of God,” §IV.A.4, https://files.ecatholic.com/32488/documents/2022/10/07-29-21%20Instruction-Created%20in%20the%20Image%20and%20Likeness%20of%20God1.pdf?t=1665591344000.
93 Diocese of Marquette, “Created in the Image and Likeness of God,” §IV.B and IV.D.
94 See Palmieri’s working list of such policies both in the United States and beyond: David Palmieri, “Policies,” https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yVCuDjFJKdwTZIsHK0rWfZmuISr3sKgF.
95 Gaillardetz, Richard, Teaching with Authority: A Theology of the Magisterium in the Church (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1997), Google Scholar, at 113.
96 See Noonan, John T. Jr., A Church that Can and Cannot Change: The Development of Catholic Moral Teaching (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005).Google Scholar
97 See Farley, Margaret A., “Ethics, Ecclesiology, and the Grace of Self-Doubt,” in Changing the Questions: Explorations in Christian Ethics, ed. Manson, Jamie L. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015), .Google Scholar
98 Farley, “Ethics, Ecclesiology, and the Grace of Self-Doubt,” 180.
99 Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes (December 7, 1965), §44, https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html.
100 One of the most prominent examples of such (problematic) reasoning of this is John Paul II’s Man and Women He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, trans. Michael Waldstein (Boston, MA: Pauline Books and Media, 2006).
101 This is a pattern that we have witnessed with respect to sexual orientation, where therapies are recommended only if they are ultimately seen as supporting (or, at the very least, not undermining) official church teaching.
102 Diocese of Green Bay, “Education Policy Manual SY 22–23,” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rnq1qw_QwtQ7eM0KyBX4HDfnxeoU-9TFh_5O1GUnK5c/edit#heading=h.26m55dakmi6l, §5045.1 and §5045.2 (70–71).
103 Importantly, this is different from the International Theological Commission, which in its current structure, hosts discussions, then writes a document that is later approved by the prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, who serves as the president of the International Commission. For more information about the ITC, see its governing statutes as proclaimed by John Paul II, Tredecim Anni (August 6, 1982), https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_06081982_tredecim-anni.html.
104 Francis is specifically requesting that the Pontifical Academy of Theology “develop, in constant attention to the scientific nature of theological reflection, transdisciplinary dialogue with other scientific, philosophical, humanistic and artistic knowledge, with believers and non-believers, with men and women of different Christian denominations and different religions,” Pope Francis, “Ad theologiam promovendam,” (November 1, 2023), https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/motu_proprio/documents/20231101-motu-proprio-ad-theologiam-promovendam.html, §9. This translation is mine.
105 Pontifical Academy of Sciences, “Acta,” https://www.pas.va/en/publications/acta.html, and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, “Acta,” https://www.pass.va/en/publications/acta.html.
106 To date, I have not found any Acta from either Pontifical Academy dedicated to questions related to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences did release the proceedings of a working group, a scripta varia, on the topic, “What Is Our Real Knowledge about the Human Being?” One essay does address the topic, but the findings are entirely preliminary, calling for the academy to study sexual difference more closely. See Janet Martin Soskice, “Imago Dei and Sexual Difference,” Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Scripta Varia 109 (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2007): 116–26, https://www.pas.va/content/dam/casinapioiv/pas/pdf-volumi/scripta-varia/sv109/sv109-soskice.pdf.
107 This robust debate among theologians is already occurring, and the literature offering new theological syntheses regarding sexual orientation and gender identity is already extensive. Some recent considerations include Stephen Goertz, ed., “Who Am I to Judge?” Homosexuality and the Catholic Church (Boston, MA: De Gruyter, 2022); two of my own pieces: “Transgender Bodies, Catholic Schools, and a Queer Natural Law Theology of Exploration,” Journal of Moral Theology 7, no. 1 (January 2018): 70–98; “‘Born That Way?’ The Challenge of Trans/Gender Identity for Catholic Theology,” in Sex, Love, and Families: Catholic Perspectives, ed. Jason King and Julie Rubio (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2020), 91–101; and Elizabeth Sweeny Block, “Christian Moral Freedom and the Transgender Person,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 41, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2021): 331–48. A recent theological argument given in defense of current teachings related to sexual orientation and gender identity belongs to Abigail Favale, The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2022).
108 See Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti (October 3, 2020), https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html, 215: “Life, for All Its Confrontations, Is the Art of Encounter.”
109 In this vein, see, for example, Traina, Cristina L. H., “Ecclesiology and Trans*Inclusion,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 42, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2022): CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ruiz, Ish, “Synodality in the Catholic Church: Toward a Conciliar Ecclesiology of Inclusion for LGBTQ+ Persons,” Journal of Moral Theology 12, no. 2 (2023): 55–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Fullam, Lisa, “Transgender Students in Catholic Schools, Probabilism, and Reciprocity of Conscience,” in Conscience and Catholic Education: Theology, Administration, & Teaching, ed. Baxter, Kevin C. and DeCosse, David E. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2022).Google Scholar