John Paul II and Women
The Pope showed his concern for women very early on in his pontificate,
when he visited the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena in Rome. He encouraged
his listeners to "walk hand in hand with the feminine world
of today" (November 5, 1978). A few days later he addressed
the International Union of Superiors General of Women Religious
and told them: "All sisters have, as it were, conveyed to one
another a password: ‘Let us first be Christian.’ A certain
number prefer to add the following: ‘Let us first be women.’
It is evident that the two do not exclude each other" (November
16, 1978).
John Paul II has a deep admiration for women and a high regard
for women’s role in society. He has emphatically encouraged
women’s fuller participation in the life of the Church:
"Today I appeal to the whole Church community to be willing
to foster feminine participation in every way in its internal life…
This is the way to be courageously taken. To a large extent it is
a question of making full use of the ample room for lay and feminine
presence recognized by the Church’s law. I am thinking, for
example, of theological teaching; the forms of liturgical ministry
permitted, including service at the altar; pastoral and administrative
councils; diocesan synods and particular councils; various ecclesial
institutions; curias and ecclesiastical tribunals; many pastoral
activities, including the new forms of participating in the care
of parishes when there is a shortage of clergy, except for those
tasks that belong properly to the priest. Who can imagine the great
advantages to pastoral care and the new beauty that the Church’s
face will assume when the feminine genius is fully involved in the
various areas of her life" (L’Osservatore Romano,
September 3, 1995).
The French newspaper La Monde said that the document of
John Paul II Mulieris Dignitatem contains a summation of
"the re-reading of the concept of femininity in the Bible."
The equality of women is stated in the very first pages of the Bible,
which John Paul describes as "the stupendous account of creation."
He is keenly aware that the Church has not been a faithful bearer
of the message of her Founder and has committed injustices against
women.
"Unfortunately, we are heirs to a history which has conditioned
us to a remarkable extent. In every time and place this conditioning
has been an obstacle to the progress of women. Women’s dignity
has often been unacknowledged and their prerogatives misrepresented;
they have often been relegated to the margins of society and even
reduced to servitude…. And if objective blame, especially
in particular historical contexts, has belonged to not just a few
members of the Church, for this I am truly sorry. May this regret
be transformed, on the part of the whole Church, into a renewed
commitment of fidelity to the Gospel vision. When it comes to setting
women free from every kind of exploitation and domination, the Gospel
contains an ever relevant message which goes back to the attitude
of Jesus Christ himself…. Yes, it is time to examine the past
with courage, to assign responsibility where it is due in a review
of the long history of humanity. Women have contributed to that
history as much as men, and more often than not they did so in much
more difficult conditions…. To this great, immense feminine
‘tradition’ humanity owed a debt which can never be
repaid" (Letter
to Women, n. 3).
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