Despite his reputation and track record as an outspoken institutional reformer, Pope Francis this week drew the line at expressing support for a certain facet of the LGBTQ+ community, decrying so-called “gender ideology” as “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” today. Speaking to La Nación, the pontiff continued, “Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs differences and the value of men and women.” Later in the interview, he reiterated that “an anthropology of gender” was “extremely dangerous because it eliminates differences, and that erases humanity, the richness of humanity.” The term “gender ideology” has no academic or theoretical basis, according to researchers Mariana Prandini Assis and Ana Carolina Ogando, but is frequently invoked as a boogeyman by religious and conservative leaders regardless. Pope Francis also told the newspaper that he would not be writing an official church screed on the subject of gender, explaining “some people are a bit naive and believe that it is the way to progress.”