The debates on gender and sexuality are widespread today. Many claim that a cultural war is being waged between "conservatives" who uphold the time-honored values of family and sexuality and "liberals" who promote an agenda to redefine these traditional roles. Since the public is often uninformed about the science and philosophical currents undergirding the questions of gender and sexuality, the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum organized an academic symposium in Rome to shed light on the debate. This book gathers the insights of that symposium, which integrated the disciplines of medicine, neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, history, philosophy, moral theology, biblical studies, law, bioethics, and pedagogy. This work is aimed at Catholics and all those who seek a more profound understanding of one of today's most important topics. In the personalist approach of bioethics, the natural law tradition distinguishes the person from his or her acts. In the case of same-sex attractions, the Church teaches clearly that the inclination is not in itself sinful, and that persons with such attractions are deserving of respect and compassion in accord with their full human dignity. Nonetheless, same-sex acts are not natural or ordered. The Church strives to build bridges with the LGBT community by fostering a relationship of compassion, sensitivity, and mutual respect. However, real bridges also require honesty and openness to the truths that pertain to human sexuality, procreation, the family, and the education of future generation.
Giorgia Brambilla, Ph.D., S.T.L. Specialization in bioethics, sexual and family morality. She is a professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and the Pontifical Lateran University. With IF Press, she has published Il mito dell'uomo perfetto. Le origini culturali dell'eugenetica and Mutilazioni genitali femminili. La donna, la cultura, la bioetica. She is the editor of the Italian edition of this book.
Rev. Joseph Tham, L.C., M.D., S.T.L., Ph.D. Catholic priest, theologian, physician, and bioethicist. He is professor of bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and Fellow of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, Rome, Italy.
