The influential Cardinal Müller questions the new Vatican documents that open the possibility of baptism to trans people: “God created only men and women and not 60 genders”

The influential German theologian Gerhard Müller, a cardinal who was former prefect of the Dicastery of the Faith and editor of the great theological work of Joseph Ratzinger, questioned the latest documents drawn up by Cardinal and Bishop Víctor Manuel Fernández—signed by Pope Francis—, in response to a Brazilian bishop who consulted on the possibility of trans people accessing the sacrament of baptism and becoming godparents.

"Any alteration of the human body is and remains a sin in the eyes of God. Of course, there are very rare cases in nature of individuals who are born with masculine and feminine aspects at the same time: hermaphrodites. These are, obviously, small percentages. In nature, children are also born without arms or with other disabilities. This does not mean that the Church must legitimize the basic reality with which we have all been created: 'the male and the female,'" Müller stated in an interview with Il Messagero.

The cardinal, whose criticism comes after the Vatican organized events with trans people after the publication of the aforementioned documents, also warned that the text, although it does not establish that transgender people can be baptized or be eligible to become godparents, is problematic due to its ambiguous nature.

"It is confusing and harmful that the Magisterium is based on the terminology of a nihilistic and atheistic anthropology, seeming to grant its false content the status of legitimate theological opinion in the Church."

Finally, the cardinal made it clear that, according to perception, a person who decides to mutilate his body should not be baptized.

"Hermaphrodites born with this peculiarity can receive baptism, but not those who have mutilated their bodies. I wonder if that response was given because there are transsexuals who ask priests or bishops for a second baptism but with the new name they have in the civil registry or want to change the baptism document in the parish archives," stated Müller, who later recalled that "Mutilating oneself is a serious sin in the eyes of God. I can cut off an ear, but it is a sin. The human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit."