UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches
Mary E. Hunt
According to a September 20 AP report, “Pope Francis offered an olive branch of sorts to the doctrine-minded, conservative wing of the Catholic Church on Friday as he denounced abortions as a symptom of today’s ‘throw-away culture’ and encouraged Catholic doctors to refuse to perform them.”
This is indeed ironic, as many have already noted, coming as it does just a day after the publication of the pope’s apparently anti-culture war interview. However, in her analysis below Mary E. Hunt expresses her concern that a failure to change doctrine may ultimately yield little or no change. Thus, her both/and approach is affirmed, and nearly in real time. –eds
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The Jesuit journalistic coup, quickly known as the Pope’s interview—officially “A Big Heart Open to God”—will take years to parse. Early headlines heralding a new moment in church history are largely correct, but not necessarily for the reasons cited. While it is true that Pope Francis has downplayed some of the hot button issues: “abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods…it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” it’s also true that in no way did he disavow them: “The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church…”
I would not advise holding one’s breath until those official teachings are replaced with sensible, respectful recognitions that adults make their own choices on matters of personal morality. Rather, I observe that the trajectory that millions of lay Catholics have set is finally being joined by some clerics, including this most highly placed one. My caution is simpy not to miss the forest for the trees.
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