Bishop Jose Negri of Santo Amaro in Brazil sent the doctrinal office six questions in July regarding LGBT people and their participation in the sacraments of baptism and matrimony.
The three pages of questions and answers were signed by the department's head, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and approved by Pope Francis on Oct. 31.
They were posted on the department's website on Wednesday using the Italian word for "transsexuals".
Francis has met with transgender people and in July, he told a transgender person: "Even if we are sinners, he (God) draws near to help us.
The Brazilian bishop sought guidance on whether a same-sex couple who had adopted a child or obtained it from a surrogate mother could have that child baptized in a Catholic ceremony.
The response said that for the child of a same-sex couple to be baptized, there had to be "a well-founded hope that it would be educated in the Catholic religion".
There was a similarly nuanced response to a question whether a person in a same-sex relationship could be a godparent at a Church baptism. »
