Pope Francis Opens a New Door of Perception

More interesting—and some people would say provocative—statements from Pope Francis are coming out every day. It's almost impossible to keep up with the media's fascination with everything this Pope does. Today, in the Huffington Post, author Naomi O'Leary covers what Pope Francis had to say about women in the church.

Pope Francis Stresses "Fundamental" Importance of Women in Church

Dare I make a pun here and say that the statement is intended to have Mass Appeal? Like the young priest in that movie, Pope Francis says: 

In the Gospels, however, women have a primary, fundamental role. . . .The evangelists simply narrate what happened: the women were the first witnesses. This tells us that God does not choose according to human criteria.

He notes that Jewish law during Biblical times did not deem women as reliable witnesses, and thus, their role was not recorded in the Bible.

Now, this is startling! Here we have a Pope—the head of the entire Catholic Church—actually looking back with a historical view at what happened and suggesting that culture had something to do with how women were treated at the time. While not going as far as endorsing women as priests, Pope Francis is at least admitting that the culture of that time was what we progressives would term "male chauvanistic." While not endearing himself to conservatives who would like to keep women in convents, nurseries, and kitchens, Pope Francis has managed to rankle women who feel that they are being given a symbolic "pat on the head" and then still being regaled to where the conservatives want them to be.

I, however, am not rankled at all. I already am gaining a feel for this Pope and what he is doing. He is proceeding by evolution—not revolution. He doesn't want to throw the whole Church in turmoil. He believes in the doctrines he was taught. As a Jesuit, he feels bound to obey those doctrines. But, true to his unconventional nature, he looks for "wiggle room." He asks how he can open the door and let some air in the stale and musty corridors of Catholicism.

As Marinella Perroni, put it:

The fact that the Pope acknowledges that the progressive removal of female figures from the tradition of the resurrection   . . .is due to human judgments, distant from those of God. . . introduces a decidedly new element compared to the previous papacy.

I agree completely with this assessment.

Considering that Pope Francis is a 76-year-old male cleric, elected by old male clerics, this isn't bad at all. It's actually pretty good. The first way to solve a problem, after all, is to admit that it exists. By shining a light on the errors in the Bible, our Pope is inviting us all to think and rethink about how to interpret what is there. And, he is also admitting that women have value that may well extend beyond the limitations that we have had placed on us for all these centuries.

Given that conservatives were upset about 4 feet (belonging to two women), I can imagine that they will not want to go the miles and miles and miles that need to be traveled before women are given full recognition and total equality. But there is a draft coming into the Vatican along with a beam of light.

In the beginning, there was the question. The Pope said: "Let there be light." And that is a lot better than the medieval darkness that has surrounded the Catholic Church for so long. 

Pope Francis has taken the first steps into the 21st century. No matter how limited or how small these steps are, they steps are the beginning of change. And perhaps that is Pope Francis' role—to walk to a new place and open the door to show us where to go next.