Words are a significant part of the engine for change. Pope Francis should be commended for speaking out forthrightly in the Dec. 12 story “Pope Francis is named Time’s Person of Year.” He appropriately condemns those who obsess over the Catholic Church’s “small-minded rules” regarding contraception, abortion and gays.
The pope pleads for compassion when discussing the “small-minded rules” for these issues. That seems a gesture in the right direction but the choice of the word “compassion” might be best replaced with the word understanding? Compassion means expressing feelings for those suffering, which suggest that abortion, contraceptive, and gay issues are each of a sorrowful and suffering nature.
Certainly, those issues in the “rules” merit opinionated examination and reflection. But compassionate outreach has an exclusionary/stigmatizing impact on those affected by these issues, thereby contradicting the pope’s message of “God’s love for everyone.” One might ask, where is the evidence of God’s love divinely involved with the 6 billion non-Catholics in their suffering conditions? (Or for that matter, the 1 billion Catholics?) Nevertheless, the pope’s remarks begin to reflect the natural order of rational thinking.
Actions, however, speak louder than words regardless of his inviting compassion (or understanding, void of condemnation). It’s interesting why the small-minded rules remain in place at all.
