The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said July 27 the policy of allowing transgender people to serve in the military would continue until rules outlining any change are issued by the White House and guidance is adopted by the Department of Defense.

"In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect," Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford said in a July 27 letter to the joint chiefs.

Citing St. John Paul II, Archbishop Broglio said that in upholding human dignity the church offers "maternal care" to each person.

"This care extends from the time an individual is conceived, until natural death, and every point of life in between. It is offered regardless of personal choices or conditions because Christ offers salvation to all people," the statement said.

The archbishop's statement explained church teaching that human dignity is rooted in the fact that people are created in the image and likeness of God and that the church "honors human dignity by drawing near in order to accompany people."

Pope Francis said in October that Catholics who are homosexual, confused about their sexuality or convinced they were born in the wrong body deserve the same attentive pastoral care as anyone else.

"People must be accompanied like Jesus would accompany them," he said aboard a papal flight from Azerbaijan to Rome. "When a person who has this situation arrives before Jesus, Jesus certainly will not say, 'Go away because you are homosexual.' No."

Pope Francis, however, also upheld an early comment condemning "indoctrination of gender theory," the teaching to small children that no matter their biological sex, they can choose their gender.