Copenhagen. 03/26/2023. The Nordic Bishops’ Conference published today a pastoral letter on human sexuality, following up on its recently concluded spring assembly.
The pastoral letter entitled “About human sexuality” appears on the 5th Sunday of Lent and, according to the bishops, would like to point the way for those believers and people of good will who are unsettled by an all too worldly view of human beings and their gender identity.
Appreciation and contradiction
The Nordic bishops’ pastoral letter speaks explicitly of the appreciation of the LGBTQ+ movement insofar as it refers to the dignity of all people and their longing to be noticed. The church expressly condemns “all forms of discrimination, and this includes discrimination based on gender identity or orientation”.
However, the bishops disagree with a view of human nature “that transports an image of man (…) that dissolves the bodily integrity of the person, as if biological sex were something purely coincidental”. In particular, they criticize that “views are pushed upon children as if they were not daring hypotheses but established facts” and “they are imposed on minors as a heavy burden of having to determine their own identity without being equipped to do so”.
Cardinal Arborelius – Bishop of Stockholm – said it was “important to bring the faith of the Church closer to people today” and this “especially against the background of different theories of human sexuality”.
Bishop Erik Varden (Trondheim) emphasizes: “Our faithful ask us what the church says about gender issues – and we want to answer constructively.”
The pastoral letter can be read in different languages on the website of the Norcic Bishop’s Conference
