by B. R. GOWANI
Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter’s PHOTO/Peter Macdiarmid /Getty Images/Guardian
In December 1993, the US Defense Department issued a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy which protected closeted homosexuals and bisexuals in the military and the new applicants from harassment and discrimination from military personnel. That is, gays and bisexuals do not disclose their sexual orientation and the military do not ask them about it. “Homosexual conduct is grounds for barring entry into the Armed Forces” was military’s policy for people who were openly gay or against whom any evidence of such activity was found. It was only in July 2011 that President Barack Obama let gay people to serve openly with this announcement:
Something on that line is the new Pope’s views on contraception, abortion, and gay marriages. In a recent interview given to the La Civilta Cattolica (the English translation appeared in America Magazine), he said:
“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”
Jorge Mario Bergoglio or Pope Francis I emphasized:
“The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.”
The interview gives an impression that the new Pope is a relaxed and a liberal kind of Bishop who don’t want the Catholic Church to be obsessed with these kind of issues. It is nice of Pope to ask ministers not to torture mentally those Catholics who follow Church’s teaching with constantly badgering them about how wrong they’re by going for abortion, or using contraceptives, or marrying a person of the same sex. However, not bothering the believers is not going to solve the problem.
Pope’s advise to ministers is: Stay quite on these issues, I won’t recognize them.
The Pope does not want to see the Church change. Otherwise he would have announced some major changes. This is 21st Century. People are suffering due to these outdated policies. Just one example. A year ago, a South Asian woman Savita Halappanavar died in Ireland because she was denied an abortion. The reason, according to Dr Katherine Astbury, was that a termination could not be performed because “this is a Catholic country“.
Pope doesn’t want to change. And there is evidence to support that. Little over three years ago, Pope’s home country Argentina, in July 2010, legalized same sex marriage by 33 to 27 votes. It also gave the gay couples same adoption and inheritance rights as heterosexual couples. It’s woman President Cristina Fernández expressed her happiness:
“I am very satisfied. It has been a positive vote.” “This is a positive step that defends the right of a minority.”
(Altogether 16 countries have such legislation. Certain jurisdictions in Mexico and the United States do allow such marriages.)
The Pope, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, didn’t like the legislation at all.
“This is no mere legislative bill. It is a move by the father of lies to confuse and deceive the children of God.”
Cristina Fernández retaliated:
“[It is] really reminiscent of the times of the Inquisition.”
Pope is also a social conservative. Social conservative is one who is usually not very keen on the upliftment of poor. And Pope was not part of the Liberation theology, that is, those who believed in social and economic justice for the downtrodden.
But now, either for photo-op or out of concern for the poor, Pope met Gustavo Gutierrez on September 11. Gutierrez, a Roman Catholic priest and theologian, is widely considered to be the founder of liberation theology.
Pope’s record on Argentina’s Dirty War is not very commendable either. Between 1976 and 1983, the Argentinian military and security agencies indulged in a “Dirty War” which was part of the “Operation Condor“. The Dirty War resulted in thousands of deaths, rapes, disappearances, abduction of babies, and all sorts of atrocities, including flinging of victims from airplanes. Pope Francis I was a Provincial Superior then. In the following paragraph, Nancy Scheper-Hughes questions his role in one of the incidents:
“Throughout the hearing Bergoglio refuses to name a single individual, living or dead, any military officers, any Ecclesiastical administrators, bishops or priests who might have been responsible for the abduction of the two innocent young priests in his charge, his own protégées. The language Bergoglio’s uses at times is abstract to the point of being absurd and at other times sly and sarcastic.”
(Read the entire article to know more about the Pope’s role or lack of it during Argentina’s Dirty War.)
Except the US ruling class, the world was talking about the dirty wars (supported by the US) waged by several of the Latin American governments against its own people. So probably, Bergoglio wanted to avoid being obsessed with the Dirty War and kept silent.
Pope has become the first Jesuit to be in command of the high office. Jesuits are not permitted to seek high office. But he is now the Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, and Pontifex Maximus (greatest pontiff).
The first Jesuit and the founder of Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556). Rule # 13 in his Rules for Thinking with the Church states:
“That we may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity with the Church herself, if she shall have defined anything to be black which to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black. …”
One wonders, whether any significant changes can be expected if Pope, now being the Church himself (in the capacity of Pope) sees “white” as black.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com