Pope
Pushing Papal Envelope
On
April 11, 2016, Kaitlin Menza reported “5 Things the Pope Said Today That Have
Shocked the World” for Yahoo News.
The Pope discussed, among other things,
in his Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), which
was released today, (1)
divorced and remarried Catholics, (2) equality between the sexes, (3) unmarried
couples, (4) the role of sex in life, (5) the definition of “marriage,” and (6)
same-sex romantic relationships. Only one of these six was not shocking.
So what was so shocking? I can tell you that #1 was for me. I remember when
one of my sisters sought a divorce and had to go through a very rigorous
annulment process because her husband demanded it. (Yet, he ended up marrying a
Jewish woman later on. . . .so much for his devoutness). So, now we have the
Pope saying that divorced and remarried Catholics are part of the Church and
should not be excluded from Communion. Hallelujah! I wish Pope Francis had been
making the rules when my sister got her annulment. Conservatives will want the
old rules, and liberals will smile.
# 2 had me scratching my head. What
exactly is meant by his call for “more equality” between the sexes? Is he
prepared to have women priests? A female Pope? Or is he only talking about the
lay world, while keeping the ecclesiastical world the same as it has been for
centuries? Conservatives will hate it, and liberals will ask how far Pope
Francis is willing to go on this issue.
Unmarried couples “not living in sin”
(#3) almost knocked me off my chair! Why? When I was getting married, one
friend whom I wanted to include in my bridal party refused to be in it, because
she said I was living in sin with my fiancée. However, when I told this to my
husband’s Aunt Paula, a Catholic nun, her response was pretty much like the
Pope’s: “I’m sure you are doing it for good reasons.” So much for my
ex-friend’s idea of sin. Conservatives will hate this one.
I like #4 a lot. Pope Francis says that
sex is meant to be enjoyed, because it was created by G-d. Nice going, dear
Pope. I only wish you had been the first Pope and spread this message around,
because there has been an awful lot of misery around the issue of sex and
sexuality. I’ve always found the Catholic view of sex-for-procreation-only
positively medieval. This one, I’m sure will be a big shock for a heck of a lot
of Catholics. A good shock in my humble opinion. It almost makes me laugh.
The definition of marriage (#5) will make
the conservatives happy, and the liberals will be displeased. It’s still that
old man-and-woman thing. I disagree. I was ecstatic when same-sex marriage
became legal in the State of New York. On TV, I watched our Mayor marry two
Jewish men and I was moved to tears. I rejoiced when Ireland, that oh-so-Catholic
country, legalized same-sex marriage for the Free State. I wasn’t shocked
because, when my husband and I were in Limerick, those rainbow flags were
flying, and we witnessed an openly gay march that included drag queens and
teachers and socialists. Ireland did it the right way—by popular vote. Seems that the Irish feel secure in their separation of church and state, while the United States is paranoid to the hilt on that subject. Yet, the
United States followed suit in a different way. The Supreme Court made it legal
throughout the land. That surprised me because that Court is made up of a bunch
of old folks and is tipped toward the conservatives. I guess the swing vote
worked here. Why was I so concerned? Because, although I am a happily married
heterosexual (30+ years), I have people whom I love who are gay. I want them to
be able to have what I have. Conservatives will like #5. It’s not shocking to
anybody because the liberals know darn well where the Jesuits stand on this
issue.
And that leads me right over to #6. This
one is a shocker all right. It’s a half-a-loaf, push-the-envelope kind of
thing. Pope Francis recommends more tolerance for gay romantic relationships.
O.K., so living together is not a sin, so gay people can do that. And sex is
for enjoyment, so gay people can do that too. But they can’t marry in the
Church. This one will have everybody wondering: if Pope Francis had his druthers,
would gay marriage actually be OK? Here he is attempting to keep the Jesuit
line on marriage while opening up the discussion regarding homosexuality. It’s
like he is saying, “it’s technically wrong,
but it doesn’t hurt anybody, so let them be.” It’s a sort-of progress.
Conservatives will scream: “NO WAY!”
as they are around the Southern United States with a spate of antigay laws.
Liberals will say: “That’s all fine and dandy, but you are still shutting gays out when it comes to marrying.”
Half-a-loaf hardly ever pleases anybody.
Keep pushing that envelope Pope Francis!
Maybe someday there will be a revolution in the world, and we will make even
more progress. I, for one, would hate the clock to be turned backward.
