Pope: "men and women are the same substance and are complementary", a woman is not inferior or subordinate
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "Men and women are the same substance and are complementary" and the Bible story about the woman born from the rib of man "does not express inferiority or subordination", but the sin of the first couple generated "distrust and division between man and woman. Their relationship will be undermined by a thousand kinds of abuse and subjugation, of deceitful seduction and demeaning humiliations, up to the most dramatic and violent. History bears the traces. Consider, for example, to the excesses of negative patriarchal cultures. Think of the the multiple forms of ‘machismo’ where the woman is considered a second calss citizen. Of the instrumentalization and commodification of the female body in the current media culture ".
The "complementarity" between man and woman and the subsequent denial of all inferiority was the focus of Pope Francis’ catechesis at today's general audience, dedicated, as part of his reflections on the family, to the relationship between man and women in the light of the Bible.
To 40 thousand people in St. Peter's pizza, among which he toured in his white jeep, the Pope stressed the idea that "man is for woman and the woman is for man" without any "subordination" between the two and he stated that "we have to recover the honor of marriage and the family."
Francis catechesis began with the second chapter of Genesis, where "we read that the Lord, having created the heavens and the earth," formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being "(2.7). It is the culmination of Creation. But something is missing. Then God puts man in a beautiful garden for him to cultivate and to care for it (cf. 2:15). The Holy Spirit, who inspired the whole Bible, suggests for a moment the image of man alone, he lacks something, he is without the woman. And he suggests Gods thoughts, his emotions as He watches Adam alone in the garden: He is free, he is his own master, but ... but he is alone. And God saw that this is "not good", it is like a lack of communion, he is missing 'a' communion, a lack of fullness. "It is not good" - God says - and adds, "I will make a helper suited to him” (2:18). "
"Then God presents to man all the animals; man gives to each of them a name - and this is another image of man's dominion over Creation - but he did not find in the other animals someone similar to himself. Man continues to be alone. When God finally presents the woman, man is elated in recognizing that creature, and she alone, is part of him, "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (2:23). At last he sees a reflection of himself, a reciprocity. And when a person - this is an example to understand this - wants to give a hand to another, he must have someone else before him: if you extend you hand and find nothing (no-one) there is just your hand, you lack reciprocity. This was the case for man, he was missing something in order to find fulfillment, he lacked reciprocity. The woman is not a 'replica' of man. She comes directly from the creative act of God. The image of the 'rib' does not express inferiority or subordination, but, on the contrary, that man and woman are the same substance and are complementary, they also have this reciprocity. And the fact that - again in the parable - God plasmas the woman while the man sleeps, emphasizes exactly how she is not in any way a creature of man, but of God. It also suggests something else: to find a woman and we can say to find love in a woman, but to find a woman, man must first dream her and then he finds her".
"The trust of God in man and woman, to whom He entrusts the earth, is generous, direct, and full. He trusts them. But then the evil one introduces suspicion, disbelief, distrust into their mind. And finally, disobedience to the commandment that protected them. They fall into the megalomania that pollutes everything and destroys harmony. We often feel this within us, all of us, quite often. Sin creates mistrust and division between the man and the woman. Their relationship will be undermined by a thousand kinds of abuse and subjugation, of deceitful seduction and demeaning humiliations, up to the most dramatic and violent. History bears the traces. Think of the negative excesses of patriarchal cultures, the multiple forms of ‘machismo’, the instrumentalization and commodification of the female body in the current media culture. But we should also think about the recent epidemic of distrust, of scepticism, and even of hostility that is spreading throughout our culture – in particular stemming from an understandable diffidence on the part of women – regarding a covenant between man and woman at once of achieving the intimacy of communion and of safeguarding the dignity of difference. If we do not find a wave of sympathy for this alliance, able to protect the new generations from distrust and indifference, the children born to this world will be increasingly uprooted from it right from the womb. The social devaluation of the stable and generative covenant of man and woman is certainly a loss for everyone. We must restore honor to marriage and the family! And the Bible says a beautiful thing: man finds woman, they meet ... and man must leave something to fully find himself. And for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother to go to her. It 's beautiful! This means setting out on a road. The man is all for the woman and the woman is all for the man. "
"The custody of the alliance of men and women, although sinners and injured, humiliated and confused, discouraged and uncertain, is therefore - the Pope concluded - for us believers a challenging and exciting vocation, in the reality of today. The same story of creation and sin, in the end, delivers us a beautiful icon: "The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them" (Gen 3:21). It is'an image of tenderness towards that sinful couple that leaves us speechless: the tenderness of God for man and woman. It is an image of paternal custody of the human couple. God cares for and protects his masterpiece ".
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