Vatican newspaper: Pope’s Marian homily points to women’s importance in Church
January 30, 2018
In his January 28 Sunday Mass homily at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of women in the Church in a particularly striking way, according to a front-page Vatican newspaper op-ed piece.
Italian historian Lucetta Scaraffia, a frequent contributor to the Vatican newspaper, recalled that the Pope preached that
the [Blessed] Mother is not an “extra,” something optional … There is great danger for the faith if we live without our Mother, without her protection … We cannot stand neutral or separated from our Mother.
At the beginning of the Incarnation and of salvation, continued Scaraffia, is the generosity of the Blessed Mother, and women throughout history have continued to manifest God’s tenderness.
“Without the warmth of the living and recognized presence of women, the Church risks becoming more like a [government] ministry, a bureaucracy,” she added. Thus, women should be “listened to in the Church, not because the institution adapts itself to the social changes of the times, but because motherhood is the heart of the Gospel message.”
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Posted by: feedback -
Jan. 30, 2018 10:54 AM ET USA
No one in his right mind, who was brought up in the Western Christian civilization, would oppose the presence, the rights, or the role of women in public life. However, gender can be broadly misused in identity politics for unfair political gains, sometimes to the point of a "reversed sexism."
