forget ending poverty – pope francis aims to reform ‘radical feminist’ nuns

Pope Francis has come out in support of his predecessor’s view (surprise, surprise) about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious – namely, that he is not all that impressed with them, and will pick up where Pope Benedict left off and continue to try to reform them.

What exactly is he trying to reform them of, you ask? Why their radical feminism of course, which includes wanting gender equality in the church, and taking a ‘soft line’ on birth control and same-sex marriage.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is a canonically approved group made up of the women who are leaders of their respective congregation in the United States. And these women, it seems, spend more time trying to help the poor and marginalised than attacking people for their personal choices, which have no impact on other people’s lives – which, of course, the Vatican does not approve of in the slightest.

Granted, the Vatican statement released Monday did thank the nuns for their contribution to teaching and caring for those in need, but apparently looking after the sick and poor is not the area of main importance to the Vatican.

Reuters reported: ‘In April 2012, the doctrinal department criticized the LCWR for challenging bishops and for being “silent on the right to life”, saying it had failed to make the “Biblical view of family life and human sexuality” a central plank of its agenda.’

Ahh, so it’s human sexuality and family life that need to be centre stage. Forget poverty. Forget racism. Forget violence, rape, pain and suffering. We are better off spending our time making sure that two people of the same sex don’t fall in love and make each other happy at the expense of…no one. And don’t even get me started on women being in charge of their own sexuality and bodies. Poverty and illness are nothing compared to the horrors of a woman using birth control.

Now I’m probably about to sound extremely naïve, but I had always thought (or at least hoped) that the main point of religion was to ‘love thy neighbor’ and care for one another. Granted, I have never read the bible, but after talking to friends who have, it seems that it is less ‘hate all those who don’t agree with you’ and more ‘help your fellow man’. But the Vatican seems more concerned with spewing bile and vilifying people for personal choices than in making a positive difference in the world.

To be honest, of all of the Catholics in the world to take a more liberal stance, the Pope will almost definitely be the last. Groups like the LCWR will be the ones making a difference and turning Catholicism into something that makes the world a better place, rather than one full of discrimination and hate.

So rather than taking this latest Vatican message as a negative one, I think that we should take it as a good thing – because with some “radical feminists” as the leaders of United States congregations, I think that we will start seeing some positive changes within the Catholic Church soon.

Better late than never, right?

(Image credit)