Translations from the Vatican

Well, sort of. It's mixed. So much is right, yet not in the way I suspect they mean it.

Let's start with the original Italian.

Poiché la fede nel Creatore è una parte essenziale del Credo cristiano, la Chiesa non può e non deve limitarsi a trasmettere ai suoi fedeli soltanto il messaggio della salvezza. Essa ha una responsabilità per il creato e deve far valere questa responsabilità anche in pubblico. E facendolo deve difendere non solo la terra, l’acqua e l’aria come doni della creazione appartenenti a tutti. Deve proteggere anche l’uomo contro la distruzione di se stesso. È necessario che ci sia qualcosa come una ecologia dell’uomo, intesa nel senso giusto. Non è una metafisica superata, se la Chiesa parla della natura dell’essere umano come uomo e donna e chiede che quest’ordine della creazione venga rispettato. Qui si tratta di fatto della fede nel Creatore e dell’ascolto del linguaggio della creazione, il cui disprezzo sarebbe un’autodistruzione dell’uomo e quindi una distruzione dell’opera stessa di Dio. Ciò che spesso viene espresso ed inteso con il termine "gender", si risolve in definitiva nella autoemancipazione dell’uomo dal creato e dal Creatore. L’uomo vuole farsi da solo e disporre sempre ed esclusivamente da solo ciò che lo riguarda. Ma in questo modo vive contro la verità, vive contro lo Spirito creatore.

I include it because many of the translations and interpretations appear unsatisfactory to me. Google's translation is very clunky compared to a human one, though surprisingly good overall.

Poiché la fede nel Creatore è una parte essenziale del Credo cristiano, la Chiesa non può e non deve limitarsi a trasmettere ai suoi fedeli soltanto il messaggio della salvezza.
As the faith in the Creator is an essential part of the Christian Creed, the Church can not and should not be confined to convey to his people only the message of salvation.
Essa ha una responsabilità per il creato e deve far valere questa responsabilità anche in pubblico.
It has a responsibility for creation and must rely on this responsibility even in public.
E facendolo deve difendere non solo la terra, l’acqua el’aria come doni della creazione appartenenti a tutti.
And he must defend not only the land, water and air as gifts of creation belong to everyone.
Deve proteggere anche l’uomo contro la distruzione di se stesso.
It must also protect humans against the destruction of himself.
È necessario che ci sia qualcosa come una ecologia dell’uomo, intesa nel senso giusto.
It is necessary that there is something like an ecology of man, understood in the right direction.
Non è una metafisica superata, se la Chiesa parla della natura dell’essere umano come uomo e donna e chiede che quest’ordine della creazione venga rispettato.
It is not a metaphysical exceeded, if the Church speaks of the nature of man as man and woman, and calls for the creation of this order is respected.
Qui si tratta di fatto della fede nel Creatore e dell’ascolto del linguaggio della creazione, il cui disprezzo sarebbe un’autodistruzione dell’uomo e quindi una distruzione dell’opera stessa di Dio. Ciò che spesso viene espresso ed inteso con il termine " gender ", si risolve in definitiva nella autoemancipazione dell’uomo dal creato e dal Creatore.
This is in fact of faith in the Creator, given the language of creation, which would be self-contempt and then destruction of the work of God This is often expressed and understood by the term " gender ", is resolved finally in the creation of self-empowerment and the Creator.
L’uomo vuole farsi da solo e disporre sempre ed esclusivamente da solo ciò che lo riguarda.
The man wants to be alone and have always and exclusively alone what he is concerned.
Ma in questo modo vive contro la verità, vive contro lo Spirito creatore.
But living in this way against the truth, lives against the Creator Spirit.

One of the best translations is the Official Vatican Press Release, but it's more than a little clunky.

While highlighting that the Church "cannot and should not limit herself to transmitting just the message of salvation to her faithful", the Holy Father said that it must also "protect the human being against self-destruction. It is necessary to have something like an ecology of the human being, understood in the proper manner. It is not a surpassed metaphysics when Church speaks of the nature of the human being as man and woman, and demands that this order of creation be respected. ... That which is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender', is definitively resolved in the self-emancipation of the human being from creation and the Creator".

A slightly better translation is at the National Catholic Reporter cafe, and it's that one I'll use.

“[The church] must defend not only the earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to all,” he said. “It must also defend the human person against its own destruction. What’s needed is something like a ‘human ecology,’ understood in the right sense. It’s not simply an outdated metaphysics if the church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected.”

“Here it’s a question of faith in creation, in listening to the language of creation, disregard of which would mean self-destruction of the human person and hence destruction of the very work of God,” the pope said. “That which is often expressed and understood by the term ‘gender’ in the end amounts to the self-emancipation of the human person from creation and from the Creator. Human beings want to do everything by themselves, and to control exclusively everything that regards them. But in this way, the human person lives against the truth, against the Creator Spirit.”

Now here's the BBC's slant on it - a reasonable interpretation (though not the only one) that I fear will be all too common.

Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

He explained that defending God's creation is not limited to saving the environment, but also protecting man from self-destruction.
...
His words, later released to the media, emphasised his total rejection of gender theory.

Pope Benedict XVI warned that gender theory blurs the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.

(Explanatory note on Gender theory)

Gender theory explores sexual orientation, the roles assigned by society to individuals according to their gender, and how people perceive their biological identity.

Gay and transsexual groups, particularly in the United States, promote it as a key to understanding and tolerance, but the pope disagreed.

When the Roman Catholic Church defends God's Creation, "it does not only defend the earth, water and the air... but (it) also protects man from his own destruction," the pope said.

"If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind... deserves it no less," the 81-year-old pontiff said, calling for "an ecology of the human being."

It is not "outmoded metaphysics" to urge respect for the "nature of the human being as man and woman," he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's sumptuous Clementine Hall.

So "transsexuals" are a threat to the very survival of humanity, and their existence goes against God's Holy Law. And any discussion of the subject of Gender, of anything other than a strict and concrete divide separating humans into men and women, is equally destructive.

It's a reasonable interpretation, but I hope that that's not what was meant. I hope that a correct reading is that there is a biological reality that should not be ignored in furtherance of ideology - though it's more than troubling that a view so simplistic as to be reasonably labelled "false" is now the official party line.

What's not clear is whether he's implying that the Intersexed do not exist, or that they should not exist. People whose biological reality blurs the line between male and female. People whose existence, if recognised, would be a threat to the survival of Humanity.

The Pope, of all people, should know the inevitable consequences of such ideas.
He played a trivial and distinctly unenthusiastic role in implementing uncomfortably similar ideas when young as an involuntary member of the Hitlerjugend.

Ignoring inconvenient facts can only last for so long, however. In another piece of news from the Vatican, they want to put a piece of embarassing history behind them. From the Times of London :

The Vatican is considering publishing the full record of the 17th century trial of Galileo Galilei for heresy as part of its rehabilitation of the great astronomer.

Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said at the start of the council's annual meeting that only parts of the 1633 trial proceedings had been published, and this had given a false impression. He said it was not widely known for example that the then pontiff, Pope Urban VIII, had never signed the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo.

Monsignor Ravasi said publishing the full trial proceedings would help to "purify" the past through a "rigorous" examination of the historical record. However there was no point in using the past to continue "polemics". The aim was rather to "look to the future" and achieve greater harmony between science and faith.
...
Earlier this year Nicola Cabibbo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a nuclear physicist, said: "The Church wants to close the Galileo affair and reach a definitive understanding not only of his great legacy but also of the relationship between science and faith."
...
The Catholic Church long ago abandoned its opposition to Galileo's theories, and in 1979 John Paul II apologised for the Inquisition's treatment of him. However in January Pope Benedict XVI called off a visit to Rome University after staff and students accused him of defending the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo. They cited a speech the Pope made in 1990, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in which he quoted a description of the trial of Galileo as "fair".

My own impression was that Galileo wasn't condemned for heresy so much as rude obnoxiousness and unreasonability. But that's another matter.

It's a bit of a Furphy, an Urban Legend, that "when Galileo presented his telescope to senior cardinals/Jesuits/Aristotelian philosophers/the Inquisition (delete as applicable) they refused to even look through it.". You'll find that although there is some basis of truth in this, it's a very slender thread. I recommend Quodlibeta on the subject.

Finally, the senior Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius said of the moons of Jupiter "One would first have to built a spyglass that creates them and only then would it show them." However, the fault was with the Jesuits' first effort to built a telescope. Once they had built themselves a better one, Clavius confirmed that he could see the moons.

May the Vatican acquire a better gender telescope than the rather shonky one provided by one Professor McHugh.