Pope Leans on “granny Bishop” Re Sex & Climate

By Jerry Slevin
Christian Catholicism
May 5, 2015

http://christiancatholicism.com/pope-leans-on-grandmother-bishop-about-sex-topics-as-his-climate-letter-nears/

Pope Francis seems to prefer discussing sexual morality secretively with 200 subservient celibate male bishops at “Family Synods” than to discussing this hot topic with a grandmother Lutheran archbishop. This seems to be especially the case when the woman appears to have better theological training and more relevant personal experience than the pope and many of his celibate bishops have, especially on matters like sexual morality and the related climate change implications of uncontrolled population growth.

The pope recently met (with no pictures or English translation available apparently – why?) with Lady Antje Jackelen, a German by birth who is Archbishop and Primate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden. The related Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany is the Catholic Church’s main religious and financial competitor in that lucrative religious market. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s father was a priest pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, see my Merkel Has Long Talk With Pope – About What ?

The pope noted in their meeting the upcoming 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s revolt. In Italian, the direct pope then, in effect, admonished the woman archbishop that it would be a sin ( “un peccato”) if improving Catholic-Lutheran relations had to be set back by their differing views on topics like “… the question of the dignity of human life, always to be respected, as well as the issues that are related to the family, marriage and sexuality … “. The pope ominously and almost rudely added then, “It would be a sin (un pecatto”) if these important matters were consolidated into new confessional differences”. Pretty heavy handed treatment of a guest, even for an ex-bouncer, no? Does a Lutheran archbishop really need a Catholic pope to tell her what is a sin?

Please see the pope’s remarks to the woman bishop whom he addressed as “dear sister” (“cara sorella”), here, Vatican web site .

Almost 500 years after Luther’s revolt began at a German cathedral, the Vatican still seems intent on dictating to Protestants, without the stake burnings, of course. Perhaps, Pope Francis had in mind the continuing and spreading Catholic revolt in a Chilean cathedral over his misguided appointment of Bishop Barros.

The woman archbishop will also be meeting with the head of the Anglican church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a married father and former oil company executive, who sees more matters her way, e.g., on papal authority, sexual morality, women’s equality, bishop accountability to non-clerical church members, et al., than the pope and his pre-Reformation era unaccountable bureaucracy do, from most indications.

It appears the pope, who seemingly spends more time meeting with US right wing fundamentalist leaders and international soccer stars than he spent with this informed archbishop and her group, was not in the mood to listen to a woman bishop or be photographed with her. I wonder why? Of course, she must know the pope is in “a box”. He cannot rationally advocate seriously for reducing greenhouse gases at the same time he pushes for more population growth with his irrational ban on contraception.

Of course, the woman archbishop, unlike the pope and his celibate male bishops, may well have a firsthand awareness of the essential and beneficial role for most couples and their families of effective contraception availability and of the serious financial and psychological risks of trying to raise too many children.

The Vatican visit by this Lutheran archbishop, and a German at that, presents more problems for the pope. A synthesis of responses from Catholics in Germany to the the pope’s continuing farcical “family-less” Family Synod deliberations was recently released by Germany’s bishops conference. The 17-page document, provided in an English translation, summarizes the responses, which filled some 1,000 pages, with the largest part of comments focused on making changes in the sexual morality area. The pope is facing a real “mess” at his upcoming “family-less” “Family Synod” in October and seemingly wants to avoid having an informed and articulate woman, like this archbishop, showing him up. The pope has stalled long enough and will soon be forced to act, and not just spin.

The Swedish archbishop, a grandmother, apparently supports respecting women’s reproductive rights, as well as same sex marriage. She studied theology at Tuebingen (when Hans Kung taught there) and also taught graduate theology courses in Chicago (USA) from 2001 to 2007. This female Archbishop is also an expert on the theological implications of climate change. Together with the Swedish bishops’ conference, she has already addressed climate change in a national bishops’ policy letter, calling for her church members and the Swedish state to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enter into related binding international agreements on the issue.

On Monday, May 4, 2015, this woman archbishop and Swedish primate had an official audience with Pope Francis. Their two Christian churches, while having some differences (their stances on papal authority, the state of ordination and women clergy and Marian beliefs, and their stances on sexual morality, for example), did publish a document on the push toward theological dialogue and communion regarding the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in less than two years. The archbishop has several key points of agreement with the Catholic Church, notably on the need for dialogue between science and religion, and the need to care for the poor.

Please see also my relevant remarks, “What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?” and “A Pope, A New US War, Jeb Bush Neocons & Big Oil ” .

Please also see the woman bishop’s picture in full bishop garb, from Vatican Insider, here,


The pope still has a major problem taking women seriously, it appears. The pope’s new media public relations commission (all male and mostly clerics) most get the pope to act, not just talk, about the plight of his silenced and oft forgotten Catholics — poor children and women. Any chance? Is Pope Francis unaware of the plight of many millions of women and children, often desperate as a consequence of his continuing self interested papal ideology of hierarchical male oppression? The pope often seems to be unaware in practice of their plight, despite his occasional crafted public relations pronouncements and staged photo ops. Pope Francis should either get some better script writers, preferably some mothers, or get used to being described as insincere, if not hypocritical.

In his recent Wednesday talk to tourists, Francis spoke about the “radical equality” that Christianity proposes. AP reported he asked “Why is it a given that women must earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. The disparity is pure scandal.” Really, same rights? Not at the Vatican or in any worldwide bishops’ offices from most indications. (emphasis mine)

Francis has paid lip service to women’s equality many times, calling for women to take on greater decision-making roles in the Catholic Church, though he has , in effect, in practice needlessly ruled out women’s ordination, women cardinals or having women head Vatican departments. Only about 18 percent of Vatican employees are women, up from 17 percent four years ago. Currently, only two women hold the rank of undersecretary in a Vatican department. Indeed, it took the pope over two years to get the successor “doctrinal German Shepherd” (that he appointed a cardinal) to release his arrogant fangs that had been clamped on American nuns.

Please see ”Vatican Hits Sour Note With Women, but Progress May Come” at ABC News and also my related remarks, “The Crisis Pope Francis Faces“, “Two Cardinals’ Aide’s Crime Upheld Yet Philly Visit Is Still On?” , “What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?” , “Francis’ Breeding Policy Fails Kids, Women & Gay Folks“, “Pope’s “Messes”: Philly, Climate, Kids & Now Hillary“, “Pope’s Fix For Street Child Woes: More Babies ?“, “Childless Pope Faces Man-Made “Mess”: Children & Climate Change” , “Vatican Revolt Negates Synod & Sex Commission” , “Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015 USA Politics“, “A Pope, A New US War, Jeb Bush Neocons & Big Oil” , and “Finn’s Law: Police Must Now Handle Crimes Says Pope“.

While speaking out about the need for a greater role for women in the Catholic Church, the pope has made repeatedly seemingly tone-deaf comments. He referred to women as “Adam’s ribs”. He has said Europe in many places resembles an “infertile” grandmother. He has urged nuns not to be “old maids.” And he once welcomed some conservative new female members of the Catholic Church’s most prestigious theological commissions as “strawberries on the cake.”

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 222 million women in developing countries do not want to have children now, but lack the means to ensure that they do not conceive. Providing them with access to contraception would help them plan their lives as they wish, weaken demand for abortion, reduce maternal deaths, give children a better start in life, and contribute to slowing population growth and greenhouse-gas emissions, thus benefiting us all.

The reason many of these poor women cannot get access to contraception is often the political lobbying of the Vatican against effective contraception access since at least as early as Hillary Clinton’s classic “duel” with the Vatican’s Mary Ann Glendon at the 1995 Beijing UN population conference. The pope continues to push for more Catholic babies, e.g., his regular remarks that big families (at least three children!) are better, that having no children is “selfish”, etc. Are these infallible pronouncements from a 78 year old celibate bachelor? What arrogant and uninformed nonsense, no?

If any “Catholic baby” does not survive or thrive, it is not the pope’s and his hierarchy’s problem in the final analysis. It is the child’s problem, and sometimes the parents’ as well, but ultimately never the hierarchy’s problem. Indeed, we read too often of stories of Catholic priests, protected fiercely by their bishops, who sexually prey with impunity on vulnerable children in dismal and “overpopulated” family situations, as with Polish Archbishop Wesolowski and Fr. Gil in the Dominican Republic and reportedly many in Los Angeles, California.

In “dreaming” about the pope’s encounter in the Philippines a few months ago with the young “street child” on the eve of Martin Luther King’s US holiday, I had a dream! The dream is especially relevant now as the pope is about to visit Martin Luther King’s birthplace. I dreamed that the pope told the young former street girl what the Vatican’s real strategy was. If he told her, I dreamed that Pope Francis, if he were truthful, would have had to tell the girl something like this:

(1) I was elected by frightened cardinals to keep them out of jail for crimes related to child abuse cover-ups and financial and tax evasion corruption;

(2) My top priority is protecting bishops, all 5,000 of them, while maximizing their wealth in their unaccountable lifetime positions;

(3) I need to preserve the Vatican’s “richest markets” , especially in the USA and Germany, and among the billionaires of the USA, Australia, the UK, the Philippines, South Korea, Mexico, et al. In the USA, I need by next year to get a friendly Republican, like the Bushes were, in the White House (God forbid Hillary Clinton gets elected!), now that low tax/low regulatory Republicans control the US Congress and, in effect, the US Supreme Court. Our US billionaire donors would like that;

(4) In the USA, I must also appeal to fundamentalist evangelical and Latino voters with a muddled mix of anti-contraception/abortion and anti-gay marriage crusades, and frequent appeals to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Junipero Serra and Oscar Romero, and of course, constant references to the devil;

(5) In Germany, I must protect and help maximize the bishops $6 billion plus annual governmental per capita subsidy, including by getting divorced and remarried Catholics, currently denied communion, to stop taking their families and pro rata subsidies out of the Church;

(6) I must push with my contraception ban to pump up the Catholic birth rate everywhere, especially in light of the high birth rate among our Muslim competitors in Africa and elsewhere; and

(7) If after taking care of my subordinate bishops, subservient priests, opportunistic politicians, “scholars” and media supporters and, of course, our 24/7 insatiable civil, criminal and and bankruptcy lawyers, the rest of the Church’s donations and subsidies, if any remains, may “trickle down ” to the poor, and to a few of those priest abuse survivors who keep silent.

And then I awoke from my dream. And yes, when I awakened, Pope Francis, as expected, continued to push the papal “Rabbit Rule” (Breed & Breed More!) of Popes Pius XI (1930) and Paul VI (1968), and all popes thereafter. This is tied to protecting the papal “power of infallibility” and appears still to be the cornerstone of the Vatican’s key moral “doctrine of procreative sex, ONLY”.

Corollaries of this Rule include:(1) Catholic “opposite sex couples” must “shoot” for pregnancy in each intimate encounter; and (2) Catholic “same sex couples”, who cannot “shoot” for pregnancy, cannot be intimate ever; otherwise heterosexual couples will also demand “unfruitful non-procreative sex”— God forbid!

The continuing Vatican setbacks, involving child abuse cover-up and financial corruption and other scandals, appear to make it strategically paramount in recent popes’ view for the Vatican to generate more Catholic babies, at least to replace millions of younger, and even older, Catholics, who leave the Church increasingly after finding that the Vatican’s Church is neither loving nor infallible.

The Philippines, for example, “exports” millions of its Catholic workers, including many priests and nurses, to Western countries to fill some of the shortages there, including in Catholic parishes and hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Vatican’s main worldwide religious competitor, Muslims, keep producing more babies, at a higher rate than Catholics now do, putting more pressure on the Vatican’s escalating “Baby Boom Crusade”.

Pregnant Catholics are always a “win-win” situation for the Catholic hierarchy. If the baby survives and thrives, the “new Catholic” can be expected, after the customary indoctrination that begins at First Confession no later than 7 years old, to donate meekly and often to bishops, and even often when voting for their political leadership to follow obediently Vatican “political instructions”, a key source of the Vatican’s power and wealth.