In an unsurprising assault on biblical truth and Christian orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Pope Francis has yet again aligned himself with the cultural zeitgeist, telling a young transvestite that “God loves us as we are.” According to an article in the Vatican’s own publication, the pope said during a podcast episode in response to “the story of Giona, who spoke about the challenges of being a believer, while accepting the reality of having physical challenges and being transgender.”

This faltering validation of “transgenderism,” backed by the Vatican’s penchant for bending with the cultural winds, betrays a flagrant disregard for the authority of Scripture and reeks of a deceitful and dangerous theology.

The Roman Catholic Church, led by a liberal pope who reflects the collective mindset of the Roman Catholic Church, made headlines a few years ago when he asked the rhetorical question, “who am I to judge,” in reference to homosexuality. Now he is openly and flippantly disregarding the tenets of Christian morality. The Pope’s misrepresentation of God’s love as a license for people to embrace sexual anarchy and destructive sexual behavior is a direct violation of Paul’s command in Romans 12:2 not to conform to the patterns of this world.

The Bible teaches that each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), created male and female (Genesis 1:27) in God’s own image. To defy this inherent identity, to mutilate one’s God-given body in pursuit of a personal “truth” that contradicts divine reality, is nothing short of rebellion against the Creator. Yet, the Pope’s affirmation of this transvestite serves only to encourage this rebellion and distort God’s sacred design.

Furthermore, the message relayed by this evil impersonator of God’s shepherd dangerously warps the concept of God’s love. Indeed, the Lord does love us in the sense that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). However, this divine love is transformative and effectively calls us to repentance and true faith—not to bask in our sin. It does not, as the pope insinuates, endorse our every whim or desire that is in contrast to God’s Word.

One may question if this dalliance with the world is surprising given the Roman Catholic Church’s history of distorting the gospel. A church that promotes works-righteousness over faith, elevates Mary to near divinity, and assigns authority to the Pope that belongs to God alone, is expected to stumble into such wayward territory. What we witness today is but a logical progression of a church that has strayed from the absolute authority of Scripture.

While we are called to judge righteously according to God’s Word, we must also deliver God’s truth with love and conviction. In light of this, the Church’s duty is to confront the lost, the confused, and the broken with the gospel, but not to affirm them in their sin. The true Church must remain a pillar of truth in a society increasingly untethered from its moral anchors, not a chameleon changing colors to match the ever-shifting shades of the world.

The Pope’s affirmation of “transgenderism”—which is really just transvestism—is a logical manifestation of the Roman Catholic Church’s false gospel and lack of belief in the supreme authority of Scripture. Such actions do not demonstrate love, as they purport, but rather a catastrophic failure to communicate the life-altering truth of the Gospel. True believers are called to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3) and to boldly proclaim God’s truth, undiluted and unaltered by the whims of this world.