High-profile Catholic Bishop Robert Barron announced his support for an Executive order signed by President Trump. The Whitehouse released an order that banned the federal government from funding gender-affirming surgery on minors. In his remarks, Barron explained why these surgeries are harmful to children and antithetical to Catholic teaching.
Trump’s order, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” was published on January 28th. “Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions,” the Whitehouse explained.
To address this harmful trend, the President decided that the “…United States …will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called “transition” of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.” The order also explained how many children regret these life-altering surgeries.
“Countless children soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.” the executive order reads. “Moreover, these vulnerable youths’ medical bills may rise throughout their lifetimes, as they are often trapped with lifelong medical complications, a losing war with their own bodies, and, tragically, sterilization.”
Bishop Robert Barron, who is well-known on social media, praised the order. He expressed that the document is vital to “helping young people accept their bodies and their vocation as women and men is the true path to freedom and happiness.” “I welcome the President’s Executive Order prohibiting the promotion of federal funding of procedures that, based on a false understanding of human nature, attempt to change a child’s sex,” confirmed the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
“So many young people who have been victims of this ideological crusade have profound regrets over its life-altering consequences, such as infertility and lifelong dependence on costly hormone therapies that have significant side effects,” he added. “It is unacceptable that our children are encouraged to undergo destructive medical interventions instead of receiving access to authentic and bodily-unitive care,” Barron stated.
The Bishop supported Trump’s plan to explore alternative treatments for children with gender dysphoria or “identity-based confusion.” “I also applaud the Executive Order’s aim to identify and develop research-based therapies to aid young people struggling with gender dysphoria,” Barron proclaimed. “These individuals are loved by God and possess the same inherent dignity that all persons do.”
Watch Bishop Barron Talk About this Issue:
He concluded his remarks by stating, “They deserve care that heals rather than harms,” comparing this to recent statements by Pope Francis. “We are called to accept the gift of our bodies created in God’s image and likeness as male and female,” wrote the Pope. Trump’s flurry of executive orders has drawn praise from conservatives and caused many liberals to melt down.
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