TURIN, Italy (LifeSiteNews) – An Italian diocese has given permission for a transgender woman to be confirmed with a name that corresponds to her new “sex.”
Upon request for reception of the sacrament of confirmation by a woman who has undergone a “sex-change” surgery and now identifies as “male,” Don Antonio Borio, parish priest of the Stigmata of St. Francis in the Diocese of Turin, sought the direction of the diocesan Curia. According to the Daily Compass, the Curia instructed him to “confirm the person with their new name but record the natural baptismal name in the register, adding at the bottom the date and protocol number of the sentence of the civil court which certifies the occurrence of the sexual reassignment.”
The Daily Compass reported that Borio told them that, “he does not know if he will celebrate the sacrament under these conditions.” The story has circulated among local news, stirring controversy.
In contrast to the determination of the Turin diocese, in the United States, in July 2021 Bishop John Doerfler of the Diocese of Marquette issued a lengthy pastoral instruction regarding the administration of the sacraments to those who identify themselves as homosexual or transgender.
The Marquette diocese instructed that, “a person who publicly identifies as a different gender than his or her biological sex or has attempted ‘gender transitioning’ may not be Baptized, Confirmed, or received into full communion in the Church, unless the person has repented. Repentance does not require reversing the physical changes to the body that the person has undergone.”
In explanation of the instruction, the diocese stated, “The experience of incongruence in one’s sexual identity is not sinful if it does not arise from the person’s free will, nor would it stand in the way of Christian Initiation. However, deliberate, freely chosen and manifest behaviors to redefine one’s sex do constitute such an obstacle.”
Although the validity of the sacrament of Confirmation would not be affected by the admission of a transgender person to its reception, it would be sacrilegious and scandalous to administer Confirmation in such circumstances without the requisite repentance. The matter also raises the question whether this will further the push for those who have undergone an attempted “sex change” – now often called “gender confirmation surgery” – to be admitted to marriage and Holy Orders, in which cases the validity of the sacrament would be nullified.