What does the Catholic Church say about intersex?

What does the Catholic Church say about intersex?

For more than a millennium, Catholic Canon law regarded intersex people as valid and existing: as “hermaphrodites”, to be regarded in tracts on marriage and ordination as female or male depending upon predominant characteristics.

Do Catholics believe God is a male?

As The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “God is neither man nor woman: he is God”.

What is the Catholic understanding of gender?

The sexes are meant by divine design to be different and complementary, each having equal dignity and made in the image of God. The sexual act is sacred within the context of the marital relationship and reflects a complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.

How are intersex born?

The person has the chromosomes of a woman, the ovaries of a woman, but external (outside) genitals that appear male. This most often is the result of a female fetus having been exposed to excess male hormones before birth.

What is human hermaphrodite?

hermaphroditism, the condition of having both male and female reproductive organs.

Is the Holy Spirit male or female?

masculine
Most English translations of the New Testament refer to the Holy Spirit as masculine in a number of places where the masculine Greek word “Paraclete” occurs, for “Comforter”, most clearly in the Gospel of John, chapters 14 to 16.

What did the pope say about gender equality?

ROME — In a major new document addressed to “all Christian young people,” Pope Francis calls for a church with “open doors” that can acknowledge past ills and be attentive to women seeking “greater justice and equality.”

Can the Holy Spirit be feminine?

Some small Christian groups regard the gender of the Holy Spirit to be female, based on their understanding that the Hebrew word for Spirit, ruach, can be feminine or masculine. Their views derive from skepticism toward Greek primacy for the New Testament.