Vatican supports equality for women in military service, envoy tells OSCE
March 08, 2017
The Vatican’s representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has endorsed the principle of equality for women in military service.
Speaking to an OSCE forum on March 8, Msgr. Janusz Urbanczyk said: “The Holy See fully supports the political, economic, socal, and cultural participation of women alongside men and on the same level as men. This obviously includes the just participation of women in the armed forces...”
However, Msgr. Urbanczyk continued, equality for women in military service should not be reduced to a matter of filling quotas. He said that the military world should appreciate what Pope Francis called the “feminine genius,” which would contribute to the effort to make peace. Citing the Pontiff’s words, he said that the feminine genius is evident in “encouraging others to promote sensitivity, understanding, and dialouge in settling conflicts big and small, in healing wounds, in nurturing all life at every level of society, and in embodying mercy and tenderness which bring reconciliation and unity.”
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Mar. 09, 2017 12:15 PM ET USA
"Encouraging others to promote sensitivity, understanding, and dialouge in settling conflicts big and small, in healing wounds, in nurturing all life at every level of society, and in embodying mercy and tenderness which bring reconciliation and unity." What does this have to do with the mission of the military? When I was in the Marine Corps, we were trained to thrust the bayonet and shoot straight, to get in and get out alive, to never retreat, even when out of ammunition. Not very nurturing.
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Posted by: [email protected] -
Mar. 08, 2017 9:08 PM ET USA
On the battlefield there is no sensitivity or dialogue there is kill or be killed. Women wanting equality must also come to grips with that reality. You may have interrogation once captured but that is not nice dialogue the Vatican is pushing.
