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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspondent

Trans people can be baptised in church and be godparents, says Vatican

Pope Francis
Pope Francis approved the document hailed as a ‘major step for trans inclusion’. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

The Vatican’s doctrinal office has said that transgender people can under certain circumstances be baptised in the Catholic church and serve as godparents in a statement that has been hailed as a “major step for trans inclusion”.

In a document approved last month by Pope Francis and published on Wednesday, the office noted that a transgender person, “even if they have undergone hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery, can receive baptism under the conditions as other faithful”.

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