Dutch cardinal warns Catholic parents against allowing children to choose own gender
A Dutch cardinal has shared his concerns that gender theory has become so widespread that even Catholic parents have accepted that children can choose their own genders.
Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht, Netherlands has suggested that a papal encyclical or other magisterial document might be required to counter the spread of the idea that gender can be determined by choice and not by biology.
In a Nov. 7 interview with Catholic News Service, he noted that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have both addressed the subject of gender theory in the past five years.
"Perhaps a document only on this problem might be an urgent question. It (gender theory) is spreading and spreading everywhere in the Western world, and we have to warn people. From the point of moral theology, it's clear — you are not allowed to change your sex in this way," said Eijk.
Eijk, who is a former medical doctor at the Amsterdam university hospital, is set to give his lecture on the theme "Is Medicine Losing its Way?" in Blackfriars, a Dominican monastery in Oxford. He is expected to address the rise of non-therapeutic medical practices, including gender reassignment, euthanasia and assisted suicide.
The cardinal warned that there would be a growing intolerance directed against people who refuse to accept new ideas like gender theory.
"We are living in a quite intolerant society. People are talking about tolerance and they say the individual is free to think what he likes but in practice ... people have to accept this certain view of man, this dualistic view of man and this view of the body as something that is mouldable," he said.
He added that Catholics must insist on their right to live according to their conscience to avoid facing harassment or imprisonment in the future.
In his meeting with Polish bishops on World Youth Day in August, Pope Francis denounced the idea that people can choose their own gender, emphasizing that it is the "exact opposite" of what God intended.
He addressed the issue of gender theory during his visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan in October. He encouraged Catholics to accept homosexuals but he warned against accepting gender theory.