The beauty-obsessed are refusing to “let go and let God.”
Even the Pope has something to say about looksmaxxing and the so-called “Mar-A-Lago face.” This week, the Vatican released a document approved by Pope Leo XIV advising against cosmetic surgery.
The document, titled “Thinking about Christian anthropology in light of certain future scenarios for humanity,” said that plastic surgery could lead to a “cult of the body” and an unrealistic pursuit of the perfect figure.
The Vatican’s International Theological Commission said that “the perception of the body and its meaning” are changing — partly due to cosmetic surgery.
“We cannot ignore the trends that reduce the body to biological material to be enhanced, transformed, and remodeled at will,” the commission declared.
The Catholic Church teaches that the human body is made in the image of God, and though the Church does not explicitly prohibit plastic surgery, it maintains that Catholics shouldn’t get these procedures simply for vanity.
The new document doesn’t beat around the bush, noting that “Especially in the West, advances in cosmetic surgery…offer tools that significantly change the relationship with one’s corporeality and therefore with reality and with others.”
“This leads to a widespread ‘cult of the body’ follows, which tends towards a frantic search for a perfect figure, which always stays fit, young and beautiful.”
This modification — which the Vatican said is often done with an “incessant frenzy” — can lead to a distorted relationship with one’s body, the commission argued.
Cosmetic procedures can create a relationship where the person “is no longer his or her body but ‘owns’ a body, from which arises the search for a ‘borrowed’ identity.”
It warned that cosmetic surgery can lead to changing your body “according to the tastes of the moment.”
“A curious situation is created: the ideal body is exalted, sought after and cultivated, while the real body is not truly loved, being a source of limitations, fatigue and ageing,” the Church warned.
“One desires a perfect body, while dreaming of escaping from one’s own concrete body and its limitations.”
Essentially, the commission argued that changing your body and face does not necessarily lead to loving your body.
The Church’s pushback against cosmetic procedures joins the many lay people who are criticizing the accessibility of cosmetic procedures, weight loss jabs and the dubious looksmaxxing trend.
And while the idea isn’t uniquely Catholic, the commission’s main argument is rooted in spirituality.
“These transformations influence the relationship with the Mystery of the origin and ultimate end of human life,” the document said. “When human beings reduce created nature (person, cosmos) to matter to be transformed, they no longer manifest the glory of the Creator, but replace him.”
Maybe those who preach natural aging really are holier than thou, but some people on social media pushed back on the Church’s stance.
While many agreed that this is a “great reminder,” especially to women, others argued that “this is a nuanced topic and depends greatly on the patient.”
In a comment on a video talking about the new document, an injector/small business owner and practicing Catholic wrote that he “often ask[s] God to work through me, and to keep my patients safe in my hands.”
“Unfortunately, there are bad actors in this industry that are looking to make money off of insecurities, which perpetuates the stigma,” the user argued. “However, there are so many ethical and safe providers who truly care and many who have strong faith backgrounds too!”
“As an aging woman, it is hard to be older when jobs look for younger people. I do not get Botox or anything, but some women get it for medical reasons. I have severe TMJ and my Dr recommended Botox,” another person shared.
The document was also discussed on an episode of “The View” that aired on March 6.
“It reminds me of this one joke I once heard in reference to a group of people that had had a lot of plastic surgery,” co-host Sara Haines said. “It said ‘they’re the only ones who consider their God-given face merely a suggestion.”
“Joking aside, you might have lost your way when your body becomes your one obsession, which I definitely have veered in that lane a thousand times, but we become so obsessed with the vehicle that we’re losing sight of the message,” Haines, 48, admitted.
Sunny Hostin shared that she had Botox “a couple of days ago,” though Haines didn’t believe that the document was referring to Botox and rather about more extreme procedures.
“We see almost every day those extreme examples of people that have had 22 surgeries and become obsessed. They’re not doing Botox, they’re literally transforming,” Haines explained, adding, “I don’t think God blames you for your Botox.”
Joy Behar chimed in with a joke: “Can we all agree that it’s a bad idea to invite [the Pope] and the Kardashians to the same party?”
