Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor, the apostolic nuncio to Ireland, said “transgenderism” was “an ideology”.
Addressing the group Family Solidarity in Dublin, Montemayor said that a “so-called tolerant” secular Western society did not want “to listen to alternative positions” in support of the traditional family.
For thousands of years the traditional family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, was the cornerstone of society, he said. There were now moves to weaken this traditional model. This was a challenge in Europe but not so much in Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America, he added.
“Europe” he emphasised, “is not some isolated, modern, progressive and inclusive paradise” urging democracies to foster respect for other perspectives.
“We are governed by an establishment dominated by a view … in which the family is neglected,” he said.
People, he warned, wanted to be God believing “our wishes are our command”. This was “a recipe for tragedy”.
Montemayor emphasised that the Church must “accompany” transgender men and women. But he noted that people who support traditional family and marriage can be “persecuted in a soft way”, in the West, through the marginalisation of academics and the silencing of politicians.
Maria Steen, a barrister involved in opposing the 2024 referendum in Ireland which sought and failed to expand the constitutional definition of family, attended the talk.
Reflecting on Montemayor’s comment, “We cannot legislate for a tiny minority” she said, “that’s exactly what we’ve done in Ireland over the last 10–15 years. We have legislated for minorities time and time again until last year.”
Steen added: “Changes in the law bring changes in the culture. First it was to attack the family through the introduction of abortion and then divorce; more lately through the attempt to change the definition of family.”
She said the UN had called for a re-run of Ireland’s referendum on the family.
Referring to the referendum and the fact that a substantial segment of the population in October’s presidential election “had no voice”, the Nuncio said this was “not good for democracy or for society”.