Gender and “Gender Ideology” in the Catholic Church: A Synodal-Sociological Exploration

In applying the inductive synodal approach and sociological perspectives, this chapter aims to sociologically unpack so-called “gender ideology” in the Catholic Church, distinguishing the fundamental differences between the Church’s philosophical–theological understanding of gender, sexuality, and gender theory and those of sociology and the social sciences. It aims to find common ground to understand gender between the Church’s moral magisterium and the social sciences in an attempt to update the traditional moral approach in spirit of Pope Francis’s synodality and inductive theology. It argues that the synodal-sociological approach offers new hope for the Church to achieve a more empirical, inculturated, and nuanced view of gender and sexuality in the contemporary world, despite Francis’s strong opposition to “gender ideology.”