Natural Law, Homophobia, and LGBTQI+ Exclusion in the Catholic Church

Vivencio O. Ballano is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

Ballano challenges the traditional and contemporary Catholic Natural Law Theory that justifies discrimination, promotes homophobia, and excludes LGBTQI+ people from the Catholic Church. He argues for the full inclusion of LGBTQI+ people in the Church, proposing an interdisciplinary alternative moral framework guided by the social sciences, feminist theory, and synodality, that provide a thorough and foundational justification for a long-overdue revision of Catholic sexual anthropology, ethical methodology, and doctrinal teaching regarding human sexuality. This book is essential reading for those interested in ethical theory, its application to sexual and gender ethical issues, and calls for institutional and doctrinal reform in the Catholic Church.

• Section I: Book's Overview and LGBTQI+ Exclusion in the Catholic Church1. Introduction2. Pope Francis's Doctrinal Limitations on the LGBTQI+ Inclusion in the Catholic Church3. Inculturation, Hegemony of Natural Law, and LGBTQI+ Inclusivity in the Catholic ChurchSection II: Conceptual Hurdles of the LGBTQI+ Integration in the Catholic Church4. Homosexuality and LGBTQI+ Inclusivity Under Natural Law in the Catholic Church5. Tracing the Cultural and Structural Foundations of Homophobia in the Catholic Church6. Social Reproduction, Homophobia, and Clerical Education in the Catholic ChurchSection III: Building Bridges Toward the Full LGBTQI+ Inclusion in the Catholic Church7. A Sociological-Synodal Conceptual Bridge for LGBTQI+ Acceptance in the Church8. A Synodal-Consultative Bridge for LGBTQI+ Integration in the Universal Church9. Constructing a Lasting Bridge for LGBTQI+ Inclusivity in the Catholic ChurchBibliographyIndex