Welp, the “cool pope” is still the pope. Yesterday, the Vatican released the transcript of a conversation Pope Francis had with bishops from Poland, in which he appears outraged that children are taught everyone can “choose their gender.” Which is not exactly what’s happening.
In a transcript of the meeting released by the Vatican, Pope Francis said, “Today the children—the children!—at school you are taught this: that everyone can choose their gender.” He used the phrase “il sesso,” which in Italian translates to sex, but appears to be used here to refer to gender (translated by Google Translate and the author’s mediocre fluency). He blames textbooks, the institutions that give schools money, and “ideological colonialism” for this development.
Then, quoting Pope Benedict XVI, he said it was “the epoch of sin against God the Creator.”
Pope Francis has in the past shown tolerant views on things like gender equality and gay rights, but here he shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between sex and gender and how gender works. And many are calling him out for his views online.
Pope: Kids shouldn't be allowed to just CHOOSE their gender!
— K. (@KDotInk) August 3, 2016
Okay so we'll just let the old system of forcing them into one keep goin', A+
https://t.co/UNZKY2Srg4
— hiii i'm ruben hello (@urbanfriendden) August 3, 2016
"[y]oung people need help to accept their own bodies as they are created."
what do you think gender education does
Dear Pope:
— Bruce Knight (@BruceKnightJD) August 3, 2016
Trans youths aren't "choosing their gender". Largely, they're trying to figure out what gender they are, and you're not helping.
1 rando after I went off on the Pope. Suppose they're technically right though. I didn't choose gender, I chose to accept my correct one. 😄
— Dame Sabriel Mastin 🌈 (@DameSabriel) August 3, 2016
Presuming the pope was indeed speaking about gender (one’s sense of self as male, female, transgender, or nonbinary), he misses that for many, gender identity does not always correlate to sexual assignment at birth. It is not an issue of choosing gender so much as allowing children to freely accept the gender they are, not the gender they’re told to be. And gender expression, though influenced by cultural expectations and personal comfort, is indeed a choice.