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Italian version
The
recent reflections of the Pope on the role of women in the Church and
the encyclical on charity, which has climbed the classification of
books, are some matters of actuality on which we have asked the opinion
of Stella Morra. This theologian, national counsellor of the Catholic
Action and animator of the cultural association "L'atrio dei Gentili",
is a member of the Board of the World Union of the Women Catholic
Associations since 2001. From 1990, he holds a seminar on the Creed for
the third year of B.A. in the faculty of Theology of the Pontifical
Gregorian University. She is working for the doctorate in Theology on
Michel de Certeau and the mystical word.
For the
presentation of the Encyclical "Deus caritas est" in the Printing Press
Hall of the Vatican, they spoke much of it as a programmatic manifesto
from the pontificate of Benedict XVI. Would you give us an evaluation of
this?
"Of
course, we always expect the first Encyclical of a Pontiff to be a
programmatic manifesto, as an indication of the lines and themes dear to
the heart of one who has assumed such a special responsibility from a
relatively short time. In the case of Benedict XVI, we have been in
advantage because of his being a well-known theologian. He had already
published a lot of books before his Roman years, for which it is
possible to know his reflections, his journey and the evolution of his
thought from a farther distance. However, it is obvious, that a thing
is to write as a theologian, as a Prefect of the Congregation of the
faith, and another thing is to do it with the responsibility of the
Bishop of Roman and Pastor of the Universal Church.
The Encyclical
Deus caritas est shows this difference well. Those who expected
learned lucubration are disappointed and, though much reading and study
are evident in its deep background, I think that Benedict XVI has been
able to find a tune devoid of intellectualism, rather he has sought
more a seriously pastoral tune than that of teaching. The choice of the
theme and its approaching type goes straight to the heart of
essentiality and simplicity of the Christian experience: God is love and
he who dwells in love dwells in God.
In this sense I
think that it is a programme indicator, which seeks a pastoral tune and
which wants to concentrate on the essentiality".
One of the most
intense pages of the Encyclical is dedicated to Mary. The conclusive
reflection is centred on Mary "Mother of the Lord and mirror of every
holiness. Her soul magnifies the Lord, that is, makes Him great". This
is "the programme of her life -the Pontiff adds: not to put herself at
the centre, but to make space for God met both in prayer and in the
service of neighbours- only then the world becomes good. We must say
that Mary is great just because she does not want to magnify herself,
but God". This reminds us of another document of Pope Wojtyla "Ecclesia
de Eucaristia", in which a whole chapter is dedicated to Mary, "the
Eucharistic Woman".
"Mary cannot help
being the journey companion of the Christians, particularly the
companion of those who have their responsibility in the Church, like the
Popes. She has received the gift and the responsibility of generating
the Word for the world. She has carried the weight and the grace of a
decision, which concerns all of us, she is the one to look at, the one
the shepherds looked at, offering her to us as an icon of the believer.
The Encyclical
impresses me also for this essential and traditional approach. Mary is
great because she is simply what each of us is called to be; she is
great not because she is not reachable or special, but because her "yes"
drags us with her, introduces us to the style of the "yes" which we are
requested to say".
On the occasion
of the meeting with the Roman clergy, Benedict XVI had very tender words
for women, starting from the mothers who have given life to their
children. "We must give thanks to the mothers because they have had the
courage of giving life - he said- and we must beg the mothers to go on
giving life in the friendship with Jesus". I would like to have your
evaluation of this.
Do we need to say
more? Pope Benedict XVI on that occasion was in dialogue with his
Presbyters as Bishop and wanted to find with them, and for them,
concrete words which, starting from the questions of his Priests,
concern the ways of life as it is, of the real life. I think that the
attitude expressed about the mothers, but more generally on all the
answers, stands always from the viewpoint of thanking and rejoicing for
what exists, for what is done, for what is lived and offered. There is
no reproaching tune, no negative or desperate tune. It could be called a
tune of blessing, of saying good about what men and women live. We know
quite well (it suffices to reflect on the text of the Way of the Cross
written by the then Ratzinger for John Paul II) that as a person of
study and as pastor, this man is not ingenuous, nor blind before the
difficulties and problems. He is capable of using hard tunes and
perhaps, at least in some texts, he tends to some pessimism.
Yet in the
dialogue with life we start with blessing, above all with the blessing
of simple and real things, of things recognised by many. Only from this
"positive a priori" we can seek a true dialogue".
Replying to a
solicitude from a Priest, Pope Ratzinger, on the same circumstance spoke
about the role of women in the Church: this is a point amply echoed in
all mass media. Though firm on the belief that "the priestly ministry
is reserved by the Lord to men", the Pope said: "It is right to ask
ourselves whether more space, more positions of responsibility may be
offered to women". How do you evaluate these statements?
I find them
realistic and concrete. Too often we are taken on one side by a
pessimistic and over-critical analysis of women in the Church, on the
other side by generic announcements of a great recognition of values
(theoretical) and, in reality, Church praxis, which repeat simply the
existent state of things. At times it seems that an excessive verbal
exaltation serves to cover a certain inertia in the reality.
Here, instead, we
find ourselves before a precise and realistic indication: if the
position on the ministry is clear, we are not to repeat only this "no",
but also to re-affirm the will of finding concrete forms and places of
collaboration and of structural, not only charismatic, recognition.
Of course, we
need the capacity of individuating forms, places and ways. However, I am
personally convinced that today this is the true problem: to overcome
the phase of enunciation of the principle and to create ordinary and
structural places, where the ordinary life of the Church may be "more
plural an plenary", not only for what concerns the role of women.
On quoting the
prayer for Priests from the Canon in which seven women appear
surrounding the Priest, Benedict XVI has brought to memory that "the
Church has a big debt of thanskgiving for the Women". Many remembered
the Letter of John Paul II to the women. According to you, are the times
mature enough for an improved evaluation of women within the Church,
particularly of the Religious?
"I don't know
well what "the times are mature" may mean. From a given point of view is
in things, it is not a choice. For instance, in my teaching in a Faculty
of Theology of a Pontifical University, the number of women students,
particularly of women religious, is in a slow constant growth. Often
women, as students, are largely more motivated, more invested in study,
more determined. We verify this at all level of theological studies.
Now, more women (and more laypersons), prepared also academically, are
and will be evermore a datus of fact we have unavoidably to deal with.
On the other
side, it is true that the resistances do exist (it is human!), that
there is always somebody who tries "not to see" and to "act as if" all
remained always equal. The recall of Jesus in the Gospels, about the
blindness before the signs of the time, is always of actuality!
Starting from
these two elements, the problem of the value of women in the life of the
Church becomes always less a question of principle and evermore a
question of concrete and specific ways. I think that we must pay a
particular attention to the life of women religious. On one side,
especially in Italy, it would be necessary more investment in study and
preparation, on the other side, new and concrete ferments cross a
thousand lives and events. I think that in this moment, a vital,
innovative tentative and experiences live together, as well as some
weariness and slowness are difficult to overcome.
"The women do a
lot for the government of the Church at charismati level, starting from
the Sisters, from the sisters of the great Fathers of the Church, up to
the great women of the Middle Age and Mother Theresa". These are also
words of the Pope which sound as a homage to all women, religious, lay
and of special consecration. With their indispensable and little known
contribution, they have supported the mission of the Church in the
world. According to you, must we re-think this contribution in the
light of the social changes and of vocations crisis in our old Europe?
"Every
contribution is connected with the times and places in which it happens.
I think that today the central question is that the women, with their
history of emancipation and desires, are (represent) truly the cultural
and historical "other", the other half heaven, as we once used to say.
With their very existence, they pose the question of a non-reducible and
blessed "alterity" (the unique difference preceding the original sin).
Now, the other is always a challenge, a complexity, richness and at the
same time, a potentiality of conflict.
The existence of
another denounces my own particularity, makes me partial. This is the
fruitfulness, but also the difficulty of our relation with the other,
I think that we
should start reasoning again from here: women need the self-awareness of
a difference, men the exercise of partiality".
What is the role
of the theologian in the European context? This is a theme on which the
debate of the imminent congress on the co-ordination of the Italian
women theologians will be centred.
"We
are going to see what the Congress is going to say! This congress is a
true challenge: it is the first time that we try to meet and to speak
among us. Perhaps this is the first step: to know one another, to speak,
to acknowledge our differences and the various urgencies of our
churches. From this exercise, we must try to give voice to all and to
the "others" of the complex Europe, at times somehow old and tired, but
a common and lively house of us all.
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