Abstract
The article deals with the document "Male and Female He Created Them: Toward a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education," published by the Congregation for Catholic Education in June 2019. The document is a guideline for Catholic schools, which can apply to control and moderate the discussion on gender issues at the level of local churches and educational institutions.
The article presents several worldwide responses to the document in media, chiefly Catholic ones, and then provides a rhetorical analysis and critique of its content. The examination reveals some text's rhetorical devices, including labeling, the self-referentiality typical of Church documents, and inconsistency to balance its message, manifesting the conflicting loyalties of church hierarchy representatives after the Second Vatican Council.
The article then carries out a more general critique of the Roman Catholic discourse on gender, which plays a significant role in fueling contemporary culture wars. It shows a lack of self-reflection on the Church's position and the arbitrariness of its interpretations.
Finally, it also highlights the political nature of the Church's gender discourse, which relates to the justification of the status quo of the Church's power structure.