Pope Francis has highlighted the importance of faith in a number of areas of modern life during his pontificate. He is of course widely known for his urging that a life of faith must have a deep concern for the poor.

His preaching and his example should give us all thought about the elements of society or the economy that we take for granted, but that institutionalize poverty. And Pope Francis makes the case that we need to personalize our contact with the poor and the needy. They are fellow sons and daughters of our loving Father, not simply faceless statistics.

Similarly, Pope Francis is deeply concerned for refugees and for migrants. At virtually every opportunity he reminds us of the call of faith to help those fleeing, often with children, from poverty, oppression and violence.

But the Holy Father has been outspoken in his concern about another very pressing issue in modern society. It is what he has called the “ideology of gender.”

In his widely read post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia (On Love in the Family), the ideology of gender is defined as one that “denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman and envisages a society without sexual difference, thereby eliminating the anthropological basis of the family. This ideology leads to educational programmes and legislative enactments that promote a personal identity and emotional intimacy radically separated from the biological difference between male and female. Consequently, human identity becomes the choice of the individual, one which can also change over time.” (n. 56).

We see news reports with frequency about the practical consequences of the spread of the ideology of gender. Celebrities such as Bruce Jenner are exalted as they undergo operations to affect a bodily change. Public schools are pressured to allow the use of bathrooms on the basis of chosen, not anatomical, gender. Two weeks ago, even the Boy Scouts announced that they will now begin to accept and register young people for their program according to the gender that they declare themselves to be.
We might ask, “Why is this important? Is this not simply a matter of live and let live?” Why is our faith and Pope Francis concerned about the ideology of gender?”

The Book of Genesis, the very first Book in the Bible, reminds us that all of creation came from the hand of God, and it was good. The high point of creation was the human person. And most importantly, Genesis says, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gn 1:27).

This is a crucial element of our understanding of the world and of ourselves as human beings. God is the Creator. His will and His loving plan is written into creation. But it is also written into us. We are made in God’s image, and in creation, the gift of being male or female, chosen for us by God, inserts us into creation and His image. Ultimately, the very basis for justice and morality is the dignity of the human person, made in God’s image.

The distortions of modern thought see the human person as essentially a mind only, making its own individual decisions. That mind or spiritual element is understood to be encased in a body that is subjected to the mind and can be manipulated or even discarded at the end of life.

But the truth is that we, as human beings, are much richer in nature. We are body and soul together. We have been given the gift of the body, including our gender. And that body is made to rise with Jesus on the last day. To affirm the gift of the body is to affirm our faith in the truth of the existence of God who loves us and who created us.

Also in Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis states, “Let us not fall into the sin of trying to replace the Creator. We are creatures, and not omnipotent. Creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift. At the same time, we are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created.” (n. 56).

In our sometimes confused and conflicted modern world, we need to remind ourselves. We love creation and all of our brothers and sisters. But we love in the context of the plan of creation that God has entrusted to us.