After watching the interview of Pope Francis to the Spanish TV (channel 6), some issues that have condemned his church into a stagnated position in regards to the old patriarchal values were brought to the surface once more; and then, again, I remembered why I dislike Christianism, even though I have a huge admiration for the current Franciscan Pope.
The original question is that that bears the Catholic church. But what is the question?
Pope Francis says that the woman is the church ("La Iglesia" - feminine) and therefore women should not be treated as servants, but taken for as co-operators (-- not exactly his words). In this regard, I think the Catholic church is at loss in comparison with the Protestant church of England or Scotland, for example, who have female ministers and vicars, who try at least to be consistent to their will to update themselves to the current times and hermeneutics.
Pope Francis says that the woman is the church ("La Iglesia" - feminine) and therefore women should not be treated as servants, but taken for as co-operators (-- not exactly his words). In this regard, I think the Catholic church is at loss in comparison with the Protestant church of England or Scotland, for example, who have female ministers and vicars, who try at least to be consistent to their will to update themselves to the current times and hermeneutics.
If we take what Pope Francis says as a truth, then as the church, what is a woman if not a mere chalice? The womb to the blood of Jesus. The recipient of life?
The Pope then comes to the topic of abortion. Cleverly enough, he doesn't answer if not with another question, which he believes to be a basic question: "Is killing a life a good reason enough to solve a problem?". This question did make me think on the possibility that maybe I should be against abortion, but then it came to me that the problem is that this is not the basic question to ask at all. This because this question is based on the preconceived idea that a woman is a recipient of life.
Why suddenly, in our history, has the individual life (as a religious conceptual term) become so undoubtedly important, in its initial potential as a seed at least, that it creates a chasm between a woman and her own body? Why should her womb be of any one's but her own business? Is it because she is an institution instead of a complex, individual human being?
To answer that basic question, which comprises whether or not a woman should abort, is not possible with the judgemental eyes of a simpler being, such as the man. First, no judgement at all should be at place. If it is indeed a divine question, that of abortion, it was given to the woman to make. As after all, she is the one who bears the life. But most important than that, the basic question to ask oneself before thinking of "killing a life to solve a problem" is a different one from the question the Pope presented. The woman who bears the life should ask herself, and only to herself, alone:
-- If I have this child, will I be able to heal afterwards? If I do not have this child will I be able to heal afterwards?--
And from the answer to THIS/these basic, true, and compassionate question(s), she should decide for herself, with the support of health professionals, in order to help keep HER life. In either case, her psychological and physical health should be of great concern to the social health institutions, because she is a human being, a complex one who can multiply, and who is looking for the best way to achieve happiness in her life. And mothers should not be unhappy if we want a sane and healthy society. This decision, therefore, should be of no one else's business but hers.
