The Vatican is against laws that criminalize same-sex acts, as enforced by a number of countries with the support of Catholic groups, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office said on Monday. Presenting a publication which reaffirmed the Vatican’s opposition to sex reassignment surgery, so-called “gender theory” and having a child via surrogacy, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez called laws punishing LGBTQ people “a big problem” and said: “of course we are not in favour of criminalisation.” Fernandez, a liberal theologian whom Pope Francis appointed as head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith less than a year ago, told reporters it was “painful” to see some Catholics support such legislation.