Avvenire, the newspaper linked to the Italian Episcopal Conference, has published an article by Luciano Moia —a regular author on “rainbow” topics— titled «How to raise a child who cannot recognize themselves in their own body». The text presents itself as an invitation to avoid “ideological judgments” and “simplifications,” but in practice it adopts the ideological terminology of “gender identity” and inserts it without counterpoint into the educational, judicial, and ecclesial spheres, even when it comes to minors.
The article starts from the case of a 13-year-old adolescent in La Spezia, for whom a court ordered the rectification of the birth certificate recognizing “elective name” and “gender identity.” Avvenire admits that “very little is known” about the file and that no one from the newspaper has seen the clinical reports; despite this, it uses the case as a trigger to “resume the debate” from a framework already decided: that of accepting the concept and accompaniment as formulated by the final document of the Italian Church’s synodal assembly, which calls for promoting “recognition and accompaniment” of “omoaffective and transgender” people and their parents within the Christian community.
Two narratives, one implicit conclusion
Moia structures the text through two maternal testimonies: one that leads to “gender affirmation” and another to “desistance” (reconciliation with one’s biological sex). The author insists that it is not about deciding “who has won or lost” or “who has done right or wrong.” However, the moral framing is clear: the final criterion is no longer the truth about man, but subjective relief, “serenity,” and the emotional climate.
The first mother, linked to the GenerazioneD association, calls for caution before starting the transition and recalls that there is no objective diagnostic test to “certify” dysphoria: “everything is entrusted to the person’s feeling.” She also cites a “German study” according to which more than 90% of cases would lead to pacification with one’s own body, and denounces a clinical and social environment that pushes toward transition, making alternatives like desistance difficult.
The second mother, linked to the Con-Te-stare association (Padua), describes a “natural” journey of transition in her son (now Chanel), accompanied by a psychologist linked to ONIG (National Observatory on Gender Identity). She argues that transgender identity cannot be explained by “fashion” or “influencers” because social stigma remains strong. The narrative also includes criticisms of the parish community for a supposed real distance despite words of support.
El problema: “no juzgar” sustituye a discernir
Up to this point, Avvenire offers human stories that deserve respect. But journalism is not limited to moving: it must clarify. And on a topic that touches the core of Christian anthropology, Moia chooses a recurring procedure: that of ethical phenomenology, where the fact —the experience, the feeling, the perception— becomes the criterion. The mantra is repeated: “let us listen before judging,” as if every moral evaluation were an aggression, and as if the Church had no duty of discernment.
In addition, the text adopts without criticism expressions like “gender identity,” “gender incongruence,” “gender affirmation,” “transition,” or “elective name,” building a linguistic universe in which biological sex is relegated to a secondary datum. The result is predictable: bodily reality is treated as a negotiable material and the word “prudence” appears more as a tactical brake than as a criterion of truth.
Neither Bible, nor Magisterium, nor moral principles
The decisive omission is another: there is not a single substantive reference to Catholic doctrine. It does not explain what the Church teaches about the creation of man and woman, about the unity of body and soul, about natural law, or about the moral impossibility of “changing” sex as if nature were a mere accessory. In a medium that presents itself as Catholic, the reader is left without a doctrinal compass.
Instead, the article places as an “ecclesial” framework a quote from the final document of the Italian synodal assembly that speaks of “accompaniment” of “transgender” people. But accompanying is not ratifying. And pastoral accompaniment, to be Catholic, cannot disregard the truth about the human person.
When a “Catholic” newspaper stops speaking Catholicly
The text ends by calling for overcoming the “pro or against the trans world” logic and presenting the debate as a struggle between factions. It is a comfortable way out: whoever objects from science, ethics, or doctrine is labeled as an ideologue. But what is ideological here is precisely turning a militant category —“gender identity”— into a mandatory interpretive framework, and doing so in such a delicate matter as that of minors.