Catholic bishops have underscored the Church’s stance on what’s acceptable when altering the human body, and medical treatment of gender dysphoria goes against it.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has published its "Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body.” The paper defines medical procedures that follow Church doctrine and those that do not. 

The USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine document says medical intervention that repairs a bodily defect or calls for sacrificing a part of the body necessary to benefit the whole is OK. Thus, the bishops affirm that removing cancerous tissue and other life-saving procedures are not considered mutilation, Stream reported. 

“I’m blessed to be included with these faithful men,” Tyler Bishop Joseph Strickland said on Twitter, sharing a photo of some of the bishops on the committee. “Let us pray that many more shepherds will speak against the tyranny of evil in our time.” 

The Committee on Doctrine said surgical or chemical techniques designed to treat gender dysphoria by changing a patient’s sex characteristics are inappropriate and that such procedures do not align with the essential nature of a human being as a combination of both body and soul. With that, Catholic health care services have been discouraged from performing such procedures, the USCCB said in a release. 

The USCCB’s position on gender-affirming care has sparked some controversy, even among Catholics in the healthcare industry. 

"Catholic health care providers will continue to respect the dignity of our transgender patients and provide them with the same quality care we provide to all our patients," Sister Mary Haddad, RSM, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, said in a release. "We recognize that the well-being of the whole person must be taken into account in deciding about any therapeutic intervention or use of technology in caring for our patients.” 

Other groups praised the stance, including the Ruth Institute, an international organization that aims to protect the family institution. The Ruth Institute gave a nod to the USCCB for its compassionate and rational stance on gender modification, especially for youth, the Stream report said.

“Science shows that ‘watchful waiting’ is the best policy for the vast majority of young people who experience gender dysphoria,” Ruth Institute president Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse said in that report. “Roughly 80-95% will accept their sex by late adolescence. The bishops’ guidelines for addressing gender incongruence would gently steer these youth and their families away from irreparable damage and into the relatively safe strategy of psychological support.”