Quotes on the Meaning of Our Male and Female Bodies As Created

Excerpts from THE BODY-SOUL UNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Joint Letter Most. Rev. Salvatore Cordileone and Most Rev. Michael Barber, SJ 20 Sept.2023

“Male-female sexual difference and complementarity are also essential to a Christian understanding of marital conjugal union, which is itself an image of Trinitarian communion. Eliminating this difference would diminish in man and woman part of what it means to bear God’s image and likeness.”

“Gender ideology denies certain fundamental aspects of human existence, such as male-female sexual difference, the reciprocal complementarity of man and woman, and the essential unity of body and soul in the human person.”

“Great harm can be done in situations where medical procedures and treatments fail to respect the fundamental created order of the human person.”

“Compassion that does not include both truth and charity is a misplaced compassion. Support for those experiencing gender dysphoria must be characterized by an active concern for genuine Christian charity and the truth about the human person.”

“In taking on a bodily human nature, Jesus reveals the goodness of our created bodies and the closeness of God to each one of us. He is not far off or indifferent to our questioning, our challenges, or our sufferings. He comes to meet us in them and to reveal to us the depth of his love and mercy.”

“The body and soul come into existence together in an individual human being at the time of conception. From the beginning of his or her existence, the human person has a body that is sexually differentiated as male or female.”

 

Excerpts from DOCTRINAL NOTE ON THE MORAL LIMITS TO TECHNOLOGICAL MANIPULATION OF THE HUMAN BODY
Committee on Doctrine United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 20 March 2023

“What is true of creation as a whole is true of human nature in particular: there is an order in human nature that we are called to respect. In fact, human nature deserves utmost respect since humanity occupies a singular place in the created order, being created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). To find fulfillment as human persons, to find true happiness, we must respect that order. We did not create human nature; it is a gift from a loving Creator. Nor do we “own” our human nature, as if it were something that we are free to make use of in any way we please. Thus, genuine respect for human dignity requires that decisions about the use of technology be guided by genuine respect for this created order.   #3

“The body is not an object, a mere tool at the disposal of the soul, one that each person may dispose of according to his or her own will, but it is a constitutive part of the human subject, a gift to be received, respected, and cared for as something intrinsic to the person.”   #7

“The human person, body and soul, man or woman, has a fundamental order and finality whose integrity must be respected. Because of this order and finality, neither patients nor physicians nor researchers nor any other persons have unlimited rights over the body; they must respect the order and finality inscribed in the embodied person.”   #7

“This capacity to love – reflection and image of God who is Love – is disclosed in the spousal character of the body, in which the masculinity or femininity of the person is expressed.”   #11 quoting Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter on the Collaboration of Men and Woman in the Church and in the World (2004).   #8

“Such interventions, thus, do not respect the fundamental order of the human person as an intrinsic unity of body and soul, with a body that is sexually differentiated. Bodiliness is a fundamental aspect of human existence, and so is the sexual differentiation of the body. Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedures. They must employ all appropriate resources to mitigate the suffering of those who struggle with gender incongruence, but the means used must respect the fundamental order of the human body. Only by using morally appropriate means do healthcare providers show full respect for the dignity of each human person.”   #18

“As the boundaries of what is technologically possible continue to expand, it is imperative to identify moral criteria to guide our use of technology. As the range of what we can do expands, we must ask what we should or should not do. An indispensable criterion in making such determinations is the fundamental order of the created world. Our use of technology must respect that order.”   #19

“An approach that does not respect the fundamental order will  never truly solve the problem in view; in the end, it will only create further problems. The Hippocratic tradition in medicine calls upon all healthcare providers first and foremost to “do no harm.” Any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person.”   #20

“Particular care should be taken to protect children and adolescents, who are still maturing and who are not capable of providing informed consent.” #21

https://www.usccb.org/resources/Doctrinal%20Note%202023-03-20.pdf

Excerpt from POPE FRANCIS in LAUDATO SI 24 May 2015

“The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment.”   #155

Excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Caritas in Veritate
2009

“Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity….Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell.”   #3

Homily for the inauguration of the papacy of Benedict XVI
April 24, 2005

“Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary.”