Pope calls for a new alliance between men and women in lieu of the idolatry of self
Francis spoke to the participants of the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life about the need for a "cultural revolution". For him, "The forms of subordination that have sadly marked the history of women must definitely be abandoned." However, gender theory is not right. The starting point of an alliance between men and women is creation, which “is called to take into its hands the guidance of all society.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis on Thursday spoke to the participants of the 23rd General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life currently underway (5-6 October) in the Vatican and organised as part of a workshop on the theme ‘ Accompanying life. New responsibilities in the technological era’.
In his address, the pontiff said that a culture “obsessively focused on the sovereignty of man” in which the “dignity of the person” is defined “by radically neutralising sexual difference and, therefore, the understanding between man and woman” needs a true “cultural revolution” to give men and women, together, dignity and a sense of responsibility.
The main issue at hand, notes Francis, is “the interconnected opportunities and critical issues that appeal to global humanism, with reference to the recent technological developments of life sciences. The power of biotechnologies, which now permit manipulations of life that were unthinkable until now, poses formidable questions.”
“The human creature seems today to find himself in a special passage in history in which, in the ancient yet ever new questions on the meaning of human life, its origins and its destiny”. Culture is evolving towards what some of defined as “perspective is not harmless: it forms a subject who continually looks in the mirror, to the point of being unable to see eyes on others and on the world. The spread of this attitude has very grave consequences for all affections and bonds in life (cf. Laudato si’, 48).
At present, we face a “reckless materialism that characterises the alliance between economics and technology, which treats life like a resource to be exploited or discarded for power or profit.” Instead of human well-being, we “see the enlargement of the territories of poverty and conflict, rejection and abandonment, resentment and desperation. Authentic scientific and technological progress should instead inspire more humane policies.”
In view of all this, the Holy Father points out that the “Christian faith urges us to take the initiative, rejecting any concession to nostalgia and lamentation. [. . .] The world needs believers who, with seriousness and joy, are creative and proactive, humble and courageous, resolutely determined to repair the fractures between generations. This fracture interrupts the transmission of life.”
“The source of inspiration for this resumption of initiative, yet again, is the Word of God, which illuminates the origin of life and its destiny.” Indeed, “A theology of Creation and Redemption able to translate into the words and gestures of love for every life and for all life would appear today to be more necessary than ever to accompany the path of the Church in the world in which we now live.”
The starting point of the “alliance” between men and women is creation, which “is called to take into its hands the guidance of all society. This is an invitation to responsibility for the world, in culture and politics, in work and in the economy; and also in the Church. It does not mean simply equal opportunities or mutual recognition. It means, above all, the understanding between men and women on the meaning of life and the path of peoples. The man and woman are not called upon solely to speak of love, but to speak with love of what they must do to ensure that human coexistence is realised in the light of God’s love for every creature. To speak and to ally, because neither of the two – neither man by himself, nor woman alone – is able to assume this responsibility. Together they were created, in their blessed difference; together they sinned, for their presumption to supplant God; and together, with the grace of Christ, they return to God’s presence, to honour the care of the world and of history that He entrusted to them.
“In short, it is a true cultural revolution that is on the horizon in the history of our time. And the Church, first, must do her part.
“From this perspective, it means first and foremost honestly acknowledging delays and shortcomings. The forms of subordination that have sadly marked the history of women must be definitively abandoned. A new beginning must be inscribed in the ethos of peoples, and this must make it into a renewed culture of identity and difference. The recently-advanced hypothesis of reopening the way for the dignity of the person by radically neutralising sexual difference and, therefore, the understanding between man and woman, is not right.
“Instead of counteracting the negative interpretations of sexual difference, which mortify its irreducible value for human dignity, it seeks in effect to cancel out such difference, proposing techniques and practices that make it irrelevant for the development of the person and for human relationships. But the utopia of the “neutral” removes both the human dignity of the sexually different constitution, and the personal quality of the generative transmission of life. The biological and psychical manipulation of sexual difference, which biomedical technology allows us to perceive as completely available to free choice – which it is not! – thus risks dismantling the source of energy that nurtures the alliance between man and woman and which renders it creative and fruitful.”
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