The Papal Anniversary

New York Times
March 7, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/opinion/the-papal-anniversary.html?_r=0

In his latest interview, Pope Francis did not mince words in declaring that “women must have a greater presence in the decision-making areas of the church.” What this means precisely remains to be seen, but the pope wisely took care to stress that women must be allowed to be a force for reform in the Roman Catholic Church. He said in an extensive interview on Wednesday with an Italian newspaper that a “theological deepening” of women’s role is under discussion, with a cardinal assigned to “working in this direction with many women experts in different areas.”

As usual, his words offered hope that there would be a new direction for the hidebound Vatican bureaucracy. Chauvinism clearly seemed at work in the continuing investigation ordered by Rome into the organizations of American nuns, many of which were mainstays in charitable church missions when local dioceses were brought low by the priest sexual abuse scandals. In the interview, the pope defended the church’s handling of the pedophilia scandal, contending it moved with “transparency and responsibility.” This was far from true in the United States, where too many in the hierarchy conspired to cover up crimes and keep secular authorities in the dark. One can only wonder how different this scourge might have been had women actually held decision-making positions.

On other subjects, he offered a fresher outlook, saying that while there was no change in the ban on artificial contraception, greater pastoral care was needed to take into account “people’s situations, and that which it is possible for people to do.” In the words of The National Catholic Reporter, the pope was “walking a bit of a tightrope.”

Pope Francis seems to have used his first year to size up the challenges in Rome and the world at large. He has stoked public interest well beyond the church faithful. He also seems well aware of the dangers of the celebrity cult (signaled lately by a publisher’s creation of a new Oprah-like magazine, Il Mio Papa, or My Pope). “To depict the pope as a kind of superman or a star seems to me offensive,” he said.

Fortunately, he has larger issues on his agenda, like confronting global poverty, which will benefit from his focus and his words.