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Pope asks Catholic church to revamp response to modern family life
Vatican City, April 8
In a landmark papal document entitled Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love), Francis outlined his vision for the church on family issues, urging priests to respond to their communities without mercilessly enforcing church rules: "Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs," he wrote.
The apostolic exhortation concludes a two-year consultation that saw bishops twice gather in Rome to debate issues affecting the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, writes the Guardian.
In comments likely to be welcomed by some LGBT organisations, Francis urged the church to "reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while 'every sign of unjust discrimination' is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence."
But the pope stopped short of pushing for a change in church doctrine. "De facto or same-sex unions, for example, may not simply be equated with marriage," he said.
"Such families should be given respectful pastoral guidance, so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God's will in their lives," wrote the pontiff. The church defines same-sex relationships as "intrinsically disordered", although this phrase was absent from the exhortation.
Following lengthy debate about the role in the church for remarried divorcees, who are not allowed to take holy communion, Francis did not call for the rules to be changed but said such parishioners must be made to feel part of the church.
"[They] should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment," he said. Divorce was described as an "evil" that priests should help Catholics avoid, while being understanding towards those whose marriages have broken down.
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said that some Catholics would be disappointed that the pope had not provided a new set of rules to govern the church's response on the matter. The cardinal, who is viewed as a progressive within the Vatican hierarchy, said the pope's response demonstrated progress was being made on church teachings and the document would provide material for further discussion.
Schönborn said the document showed something had changed in the church discourse. "Pope Francis speaks about families with a clarity that is not easy to find in the magisterial documents on the church," he said.
He was joined at the Holy See by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the synod of bishops, who praised the pope's intervention: "In an era of global crisis in which families often suffer, the exhortation takes a positive look at the beauty of married love and the family."
In the document, reflecting the hands-on approach seen throughout Francis' three-year papacy, the pope emphasised the need for priests to reach out to members of their communities and present the church as a "field hospital".
The broader document saw Francis recognise the Catholic church's waning appeal to young people, urging churchmen to present a more appealing view of marriage. "I think of Saint Valentine's Day; in some countries, commercial interests are quicker to see the potential of this celebration than are we in the church," he wrote during a section on marriage preparation.
The pontiff also dedicated two pages to "the erotic dimension of love" within marriage, promoting a positive vision of sexuality. "[This] must be seen as a gift from God that enriches the relationship of the spouses," he said.
Formal sex education in schools, however, was decried as promoting narcissism through its discussion of safe sex. "Such expressions convey a negative attitude towards the natural procreative finality of sexuality, as if an eventual child were an enemy to be protected against," wrote Francis, asserting the church's opposition to contraception.
In discussing reproduction, the pope voiced the Vatican's opposition to abortion in all circumstances: "No alleged right to one's own body can justify a decision to terminate that life."
The pope also showed no opening towards fertility treatment, describing creation as something which "must be received as a gift" and suggested infertile couples adopt.
Although the apostolic exhortation continues church rules that have remained in place for generations, the document also contains hints of the perceptiveness that has made the pope a popular figure globally.
"Much hurt and many problems result when we stop looking at one another," he wrote, listing a string of common complains of family members feeling invisible or uncared for.
Childish behaviour was another problem the pontiff saw afflicting marriages. "Only in their forties do some people achieve a maturity that should have come at the end of adolescence," he remarked, writes the Guardian.
The 79-year-old pontiff also explored the way technology affects relationships, such as when people stay on their mobile phones during meal times. He saw the fast pace of the online world impacting people's approach to relationships: "They believe, along the lines of social networks, that love can be connected or disconnected at the whim of the consumer, and the relationship quickly 'blocked'."
POPE PROVES FLEXIBLE WITHIN LIMITS
Bill Donohue
Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation, "The Joy of Love," does not change a single teaching of the Catholic Church, but he does call on Catholics to be more understanding of the irregular family unions that so many find themselves in these days.
The Holy Father acknowledges that there are those, in and out of the Church, who harbor "an immoderate desire for total change without sufficient reflection or grounding." These Catholics will be disappointed, if not angry, that they did not get what they wanted. This unhappiness will also be found among those who possess "an attitude that would solve everything by applying general rules or deriving undue conclusions from particular theological considerations."
In short, Catholics who consider themselves very liberal or very conservative will have another opportunity to sulk.
The pope makes plain how inadequate it is to cast all discussions on family issues in terms of the nuclear family. He wants us to address the conditions that mark irregular families, and to minister to those in need. Priests, in particular, must exercise discernment in tending to those in unconventional unions: the ultimate goal is to implement "the logic of pastoral mercy."
Lest he be misunderstood, the pope is not suggesting that priests exercise flexibility outside the limits prescribed by Church teachings. "It is true that general rules set forth a good which can never be disregarded or neglected," he says, "but in their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for all particular situations."
For example, the divorced and remarried must not be treated with disdain, and indeed they must be approached with mercy. The same is true of those who live in other irregular unions.
Still, on four occasions in his statement, the pope cites the indissoluble nature of marriage; he also restates the Church's teaching on marriage as a union between those of the opposite sex.
"There is a failure to realize that only the exclusive and indissoluble union between a man and a woman has a plenary role to play in society as a stable commitment that bears fruit in new life," he says.
The pope acknowledges that given the multiplicity of lifestyles, difficult moral judgments abound. He cautions against "thinking that everything is black and white," as if there were some kind of theological GPS device that can answer these questions with precision. This leads him to emphasize the role of conscience in making moral judgments.
Unfortunately, some commentators are already saying that the pope has decided that obeying one's conscience is all that is necessary to resolve moral problems. What is not being reported is that he is speaking about a "well-formed conscience," not some purely individualistic exercise absent a tutorial role for the Church. So when he says that "We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them," his emphasis on forming consciences cannot be ignored.
It is worth repeating his exact words on this subject.
"Naturally," he instructs, "every effort should be made to encourage the development of an enlightened conscience, formed and guided by the responsible and serious discernment of one's pastor, and to encourage an ever greater trust in God's grace."
The pope's comments fit perfectly with what the Catholic Catechism has to say: "Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened."
The Catechism also stresses that it "can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed."
Thus, those who see conscience as a piece of putty that can be twisted to justify any moral act will find no support in the pope's document or in the teachings of the Church.
The term "gay" is nowhere found in the pope's apostolic exhortation. There is one mention of homosexuals and two mentions of same sex marriage . Nothing is said about the Church's teaching that the homosexual condition is "intrinsically disordered," meaning that the status quo has been upheld.
At the same time, the pope wants us to respect homosexuals and to refrain from any unjust discrimination against them.
The pope affirms what the Synod Fathers said about same sex marriage.
He notes that "there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family."
Similarly, he finds attempts to pressure Catholics into approving homosexual unions to be
objectionable.
In short, the pope rejects the role of a scold, and looks askance at those who bury their head in the letter of the law. At the same time, he wants us to appreciate the wisdom of the Church's teachings on marriage, the family, and sexuality.
He has not changed the bar, but he is asking us to help everyone clear it.
