Men and Women in the Church
LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE
OF MEN AND WOMEN IN THE CHURCH AND IN THE
WORLD
The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, in the Audience
granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect,
approved the present Letter, adopted in the Ordinary
Session of this Congregation, and ordered its
publication from
the Offices of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Feast
of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
+ Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect
+ Angelo Amato, SDB
Titular Archbishop of Sila, Secretary
(Bold emphasis provided by Holy Hill Cross Web Site)
INTRODUCTION
1. The Church,
expert in humanity, has a perennial interest in whatever concerns men and
women. In recent
times, much reflection has been given to the question of the dignity of women
and to women's
rights and duties in the different areas of civil society and the Church. Having
contributed to a deeper
understanding of this fundamental question, in particular through the teaching
of John Paul II,1 the Church is
called today to address certain currents of thought which are often at variance
with the authentic advancement of women.
After
a brief presentation and critical evaluation of some current conceptions of
human nature, this document
will offer reflections –that are indispensable for safeguarding his or her
identity – on some of the essentials of a correct understanding of active
collaboration, in recognition of the difference between men andwomen in the
Church and in the world. These reflections are meant as a starting point for further examination
in the Church, as well as an
impetus for dialogue with all men and women of good will, in a sincere search
for the truth and in a common commitment to the development of ever
more
authentic relationships.
I. THE QUESTION
2.
Recent years have seen new approaches to women's
issues. A first tendency is to emphasize strongly conditions of subordination
in order to give rise to antagonism: women, in order to be themselves, must
make themselves the adversaries of men. Faced with the
abuse of power, the answer for women is to seek power. This
process leads to opposition between men and women, in which the identity and
role of one are emphasized to the disadvantage of the other, leading to harmful
confusion regarding the human person, which has its most immediate and lethal
effects in the structure of the family.
A second
tendency emerges in the wake of the first. In order to avoid the domination of
one sex or the other, their differences tend to be denied, viewed as mere
effects of historical and cultural conditioning.
In this perspective, physical difference, termed sex, is minimized, while the purely cultural element, termed gender, is emphasized to the maximum
and held to be primary. The obscuring of the difference or duality of the sexes has enormous
consequences on a variety of levels. This theory of the human person, intended to promote prospects for
equality of women through liberation from biological
determinism, has in reality inspired ideologies which, for2 example, call into
question the family, in its natural two-parent structure of mother and father,
and make homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model
of polymorphous sexuality.
3.
While the immediate roots of this second tendency are found in the
context of reflection on women's
roles, its deeper motivation must be sought in the human attempt to be freed
from one's biological
conditioning.2 According to this perspective, human nature in itself does not possess
characteristics in an absolute manner: all persons can and ought to constitute
themselves as they like, since
they are free from every predetermination linked to their essential
constitution. This perspective has many consequences. Above all it
strengthens the idea that the liberation of women entails criticism of Sacred
Scripture, which would be
seen as handing on a patriarchal conception of God
nourished by an essentially male-dominated culture. Second, this tendency would consider as lacking in
importance and relevance the fact that the Son of God assumed human nature in its male form.
4.
In the face of these currents of thought, the Church, enlightened by faith in Jesus Christ, speaks instead of active collaboration between the
sexes precisely in the recognition of the difference between man and woman.
To
understand better the basis, meaning and consequences of this response it is
helpful to turn briefly
to the Sacred Scriptures, rich also in human wisdom, in which this response is
progressively manifested
thanks to God's intervention on behalf of humanity.3
II. BASIC ELEMENTS OF THE BIBLICAL VISION OF
THE HUMAN PERSON
5. The first biblical texts to examine are the first three chapters of Genesis. Here we “enter into the setting of the biblical ‘beginning'. In it the revealed truth concerning the human person as ‘the image and likeness' of God constitutes the immutable basis of all Christian anthropology”.4
The
first text (Gn 1:1-2:4)
describes the creative power of the Word of God, which makes distinctions
in the original chaos. Light and darkness appear, sea and dry land, day and
night, grass and
trees, fish and birds, “each according to its kind”. An ordered world is born
out of differences, carrying
with them also the promise of relationships. Here we see a sketch of the
framework in which
the creation of the human race takes place: “God
said ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness'” (Gn
6.
The second creation account (Gn
2:4-25) confirms in a definitive way the importance of sexual difference.
Formed by God and placed in the garden which he was to cultivate, the man, who
is still referred
to with the generic expression Adam, experienced
a loneliness which the presence of the animals
is not able to overcome. He needs a helpmate
who will be his partner. The term here does not
refer to an inferior, but to a vital helper.5
This is so that Adam's life
does not sink into a sterile
and,
in the end, baneful encounter with himself. It is necessary that he enter into
relationship with another
being on his own level. Only the woman, created from the same “flesh” and
cloaked in the same
mystery, can give a future to the life of the man. It is therefore above all on
the ontological level
that this takes place, in the sense that God's creation of woman characterizes
humanity as a 3
relational reality. In this encounter, the man speaks words for the first time,
expressive of his wonderment:
“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gn
As
the Holy Father has written with regard to this text from Genesis, “...woman is
another ‘I' in a common
humanity. From the very beginning they
appear as a ‘unity of the two', and this signifies that the original solitude
is overcome, the solitude in which man does not find ‘a helper fit for him' (Gn
This
vital difference is oriented toward communion and was lived in peace, expressed
by their nakedness:
“And the man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame” (Gn
Through
this same spousal perspective, the ancient Genesis narrative allows us to
understand how woman,
in her deepest and original being, exists “for the other” (cf. 1 Cor 11:9): this is a statement which,
far from any sense of alienation, expresses a fundamental aspect of the
similarity with the Triune
God, whose Persons, with the coming of Christ, are revealed as being in a
communion of love,
each for the others. “In the ‘unity of the two', man and woman are called from
the beginning not
only to exist ‘side by side' or ‘together', but they are also called to exist
mutually ‘one for the other'...
The text of Genesis 2:18-25 shows that marriage is the first and, in a sense,
the fundamental dimension
of this call. But it is not the only one. The whole of human history unfolds
within the context
of this call. In this history, on the basis of the principle of mutually being ‘for'
the other in interpersonal
‘communion', there develops in humanity itself, in accordance with God's will,
the integration
of what is ‘masculine' and what is ‘feminine'”.9
The
peaceful vision which concludes the second creation account recalls the “indeed
it was very good”
(Gn
7.
Original sin changes the way in which the man and the woman receive and
live the Word of God as
well as their relationship with the Creator. Immediately after having given
them the gift of the garden,
God gives them a positive command (cf. Gn
Following
enticement by the serpent, the man and the woman deny this difference. As a consequence,
the way in which they live their sexual difference is also upset. In this way,
the Genesis
account establishes a relationship of cause and effect between the two
differences: when humanity
considers God its enemy, the relationship between man and woman becomes
distorted.
When
this relationship is damaged, their access to the face of God risks being
compromised in turn.
God's
decisive words to the woman after the first sin express the kind of relationship
which has now been introduced between man and woman: “your desire shall be for
your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gn 3:16). It will be a relationship in which love will
frequently be debased into pure self-seeking, in a relationship which ignores
and kills love and replaces it with the yoke of domination of one sex over the
other.
Indeed
the story of humanity is continuously marked by this4 situation, which recalls
the three-fold concupiscence mentioned by
8.
Reviewing these fundamental texts allows us to formulate some of the
principal elements of the biblical
vision of the human person. Above all, the fact that
human beings are persons needs to be underscored: “Man is a person, man and
woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of
the personal God”.10
Their
equal dignity as persons is realized as physical, psychological and ontological
complementarity, giving rise to a harmonious relationship of “uni-duality”,
which only sin and “the structures of sin” inscribed in culture render
potentially conflictual. The biblical vision of the human person suggests that
problems related to sexual difference, whether on the public or private level,
should be addressed by a relational approach and not by competition or
retaliation. Furthermore, the importance
and the meaning of sexual difference, as a reality deeply inscribed in man and
woman, needs to be noted. “Sexuality characterizes man and woman not only on
the physical level, but also on the psychological and spiritual, making its
mark on each of their expressions”.11 It cannot be reduced to a pure and
insignificant biological fact, but rather “is a fundamental component of
personality, one of its modes of being, of manifestation, of communicating with
others, of feeling, of expressing and of living human love”.12 This capacity to
love – reflection and image of God who is Love – is disclosed in the spousal
character of the body, in which the masculinity or femininity of the person is
expressed.
The
human dimension of sexuality is inseparable from the theological dimension. The
human creature,
in its unity of soul and body, is characterized therefore, from the very
beginning, by the relationship
with the other-beyond-the-self. This
relationship is presented as still good and yet, at the
same time, changed. It is good from its original goodness, declared by God from
the first moment
of creation. It has been changed however by the disharmony between God and
humanity introduced
by sin. This alteration does not correspond to the initial plan of God for man
and woman,
nor to the truth of the relationship between the sexes. It follows then that
the relationship is good,
but wounded and in need of healing.
What
might be the ways of this healing? Considering and analyzing the problems in
the relationship between
the sexes solely from the standpoint of the situation marked by sin would lead
to a return to the
errors mentioned above. The logic of sin needs to be broken and a way forward
needs to be found
that is capable of banishing it from the hearts of sinful humanity. A clear
orientation in this sense
is provided in the third chapter of Genesis by God's promise of a Saviour,
involving the “woman”
and her “offspring” (cf. Gn
9. An early victory over evil is seen in
the story of Noah, the just man, who guided by God, avoids the
flood with his family and the various species of animals (cf. Gn 6-9). But it is above all in God's choice
of Abraham and his descendants (cf. Gn
12:1ff) that the hope of salvation is confirmed. God begins
in this way to unveil his countenance so that, through the chosen people,
humanity will learn the
path of divine likeness, that is, the way of holiness, and thus of
transformation of heart. Among the
many ways in which God reveals himself to his people (cf. Heb 1:1), in keeping with a long and patient
pedagogy, there is the recurring theme of the covenant between man and woman.
This is paradoxical
if we consider the drama recounted in Genesis and its concrete repetition in
the time of the
prophets, as well as the mixing of the sacred and the sexual found in the
religions which 5
surrounded
If,
in this relationship, God can be described as a “jealous God” (cf. Ex 20:5; Nah 1:2) and
steadfast
love and in mercy” (Hos
The
Song of Songs is an important moment in the use of this form of revelation. In
the words of a most
human love, which celebrate the beauty of the human body and the joy of mutual
seeking, God's
love for his people is also expressed. The Church's recognition of her
relationship to Christ in this
audacious conjunction of language about what is most human with language about
what is most divine,
cannot be said to be mistaken.
In
the course of the Old Testament, a story of salvation takes shape which
involves the simultaneous
participation of male and female. While having an evident metaphorical
dimension, the
terms bridegroom and bride – and covenant as well – which characterize the
dynamic of salvation,
are much more than simple metaphors. This spousal language touches on the very
nature
of
the relationship which God establishes with his people, even though that
relationship is more expansive
than human spousal experience. Likewise,
the same concrete conditions of redemption are
at play in the way in which prophetic statements, such as those of Isaiah,
associate masculine and
feminine roles in proclaiming and prefiguring the work of salvation which God
is about to undertake.
This salvation orients the reader both toward the male figure of the suffering
Servant as well
as to the female figure of
10.
All these prefigurations find their fulfillment in the New Testament. On
the one hand, Mary, the chosen
daughter of
mother
not only assure the continuity of the New Testament with the Old, but go beyond
it, since – as
Saint Irenaeus wrote – with Jesus Christ “all newness” appears.13
This
aspect is particularly evident in the Gospel of John. In the scene of the
wedding feast at
In
his apostolic activity, Paul develops the whole nuptial significance of the
redemption by seeing Christian
life as a nuptial mystery. He writes to the Church in
In
the Letter to the Ephesians, the spousal relationship between Christ and the
Church is taken up again
and deepened in its implications. In the New Covenant, the beloved bride is the
Church, and as
the Holy Father teaches in his Letter
to Families: “This bride, of whom the Letter to the Ephesians
speaks, is present in each of the baptized and is like one who presents herself
before her Bridegroom:
‘Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her..., that he might present
the Church
to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she
might be holy and
without blemish' (Eph
Reflecting
on the unity of man and woman as described at the moment of the world's
creation (cf. Gn
lives
in her earthly pilgrimage toward the fullness of the eternal wedding.
11.
Drawn into the Paschal mystery and made living signs of the love of
Christ and his Church, the hearts
of Christian spouses are renewed and they are able to avoid elements of
concupiscence in their
relationship, as well as the subjugation introduced into the life of the first
married couple by the
break with God caused by sin. For Christian spouses, the goodness of love, for
which the wounded
human heart has continued to long, is revealed with new accents and
possibilities. It is in this
light that Jesus, faced with the question about divorce (cf. Mt 19:3-9), recalls the demands of the
covenant between man and woman as willed by God at the beginning, that is,
before the eruption
of sin which had justified the later accommodations found in the Mosaic Law.
Far from being
the imposition of a hard and inflexible order, these words of Jesus are
actually the proclamation
of the “good news” of that faithfulness which is stronger than sin. The power
of the resurrection
makes possible the victory of faithfulness over weakness, over injuries and
over the couple's
sins. In the grace of Christ which renews their hearts, man and woman become
capable of being
freed from sin and of knowing the joy of mutual giving.
12.
“For all of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ...
there is neither male nor female”, writes
Male and
female are thus revealed as belonging
ontologically to creation and destined therefore to outlast the present
time, evidently in a transfigured form. In this way, they characterize the “love that never ends” (1Cor 13:8), although the temporal and
earthly expression of sexuality is transient and ordered to a
phase of life marked by procreation and death. Celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom seeks to be the prophecy of
this form of future existence of male and female. For those who live it, it is an anticipation of
the reality of a life which, while remaining that of a man and a woman,
will no longer be subject to the present limitations of the marriage relationship
(cf.Mt22:30). For those in
married life, celibacy becomes the reminder and prophecy of the completion
which their own relationship will find in the face-to-face encounter with God.
From
the first moment of their creation, man and woman are distinct, and will remain
so for all eternity.
Placed within Christ's Paschal mystery, they no longer see their difference as
a source of discord
to be overcome by denial or eradication, but rather as the possibility for
collaboration, to be cultivated
with mutual respect for their difference. From here, new perspectives open up
for a deeper
understanding of the dignity of women and their role in human society and in
the Church.
III. THE IMPORTANCE OF FEMININE VALUES IN THE
LIFE OF SOCIETY
13.
Among the fundamental values linked to women's actual lives is what has
been called a “capacity
for the other”. Although a certain type of feminist rhetoric makes demands “for ourselves”,
women preserve the deep intuition of the goodness in their lives of those
actions which elicit
life, and contribute to the growth and protection of the other.
This
intuition is linked to women's physical capacity to give life. Whether lived
out or remaining potential,
this capacity is a reality that structures the female personality in a profound
way. It allows her
to acquire maturity very quickly, and gives a sense of the seriousness of life
and of its responsibilities.
A sense and a respect for what is concrete develop in her, opposed to
abstractions which
are so often fatal for the existence of individuals and society. It is women,
in the end, who even
in very desperate situations, as attested by history past and present, possess
a singular capacity to
persevere in adversity, to keep life going even in extreme situations, to hold
tenaciously to the future,
and finally to remember with tears the value of every human life.
Although
motherhood is a key element of women's identity, this does not mean that women
should be
considered from the sole perspective of physical procreation. In this area,
there can be serious distortions,
which extol biological fecundity in purely quantitative terms and are often
accompanied by
dangerous disrespect for women. The existence of the Christian vocation of
virginity, radical with
regard to both the Old Testament tradition and the demands made by many
societies, is of the
greatest
importance in this regard.17 Virginity refutes any attempt to enclose women in mere biological
destiny. Just as virginity receives from physical motherhood the insight that
there is no Christian vocation except in the concrete gift of oneself to the
other, so physical motherhood receives from virginity an insight into its fundamentally spiritual dimension: it is in not being content only to give
physical life that the other truly comes into existence. This means that
motherhood can find forms of full realization also where there is no physical
procreation.18
In this
perspective, one understands the irreplaceable role of women in all aspects of
family and social life involving human relationships and caring for others. Here what John Paul II has termed the genius
of women becomes very
clear.19 It implies first of all that women be significantly and actively present in the family, “the
primordial and, in a certain sense sovereign society”,20 since it is 8 here above all that the features of
a people take shape; it is here that its members acquire basic teachings. They learn to love inasmuch
as they are unconditionally loved, they learn respect for others inasmuch as they are respected,
they learn to know the face of God inasmuch as they receive a first revelation of it from a father
and a mother full of attention in their regard. Whenever these fundamental experiences are lacking,
society as a whole suffers violence and becomes in turn the progenitor of more violence. It means
also that women should be present in the world of work and in the organization of society, and
that women should have access to positions of responsibility which allow them to inspire the
policies of nations and to promote innovative solutions to economic and social problems.
In
this regard, it cannot be forgotten that the interrelationship between these
two activities – family and
work – has, for women, characteristics different from those in the case of men.
The harmonization
of the organization of work and laws governing work with the demands stemming from
the mission of women within the family is a challenge. The question is not only
legal,
economic
and organizational; it is above all a question of mentality, culture, and
respect. Indeed, a just
valuing of the work of women within the family is required. In this way, women
who freely desire will be able to devote the totality of their time to the work
of the household without being stigmatized by society or penalized financially,
while those who wish also to engage in other work may be able to do so with an
appropriate work-schedule, and not have to choose between relinquishing their
family life or enduring continual stress, with negative consequences for one's
own equilibrium and the harmony of the family.
As
John Paul II has written, “it will redound to the credit of society to make it possible
for a mother – without inhibiting her freedom, without psychological or practical
discrimination and without penalizing her as compared with other women - to devote herself to taking care of
her children and educating them in accordance with their needs, which vary with age”.21
14.
It is appropriate
however to recall that the feminine values mentioned here are above all human
values: the human condition of man and woman created in the image of God is one
and indivisible.
It
is only because women are more immediately attuned to these values that they
are the reminder and
the privileged sign of such values. But, in the final analysis, every human
being, man or woman,
is destined to be “for the other”. In
this perspective, that which is called “femininity” is more
than simply an attribute of the female sex. The word designates indeed the
fundamental
human
capacity to live for the other and because of the other.
Therefore,
the promotion of women within society must be understood and desired as a humanization
accomplished through those values, rediscovered thanks to women. Every outlook which
presents itself as a conflict between the sexes is only an illusion and a
danger: it
would end in segregation and competition between men and women, and would
promote a solipsism nourished by a false conception of freedom.
Without
prejudice to the advancement of women's rights in society and the family, these observations
seek to correct the perspective which views men as enemies to be overcome. The proper
condition of the male-female relationship cannot be a kind of mistrustful and
defensive opposition.
Their relationship needs to be lived in peace and in the happiness of shared
love.
On
a more concrete level, if social policies – in the areas of education, work,
family, access to services
and civic participation – must combat all unjust sexual discrimination, they
must also listen to
the aspirations and identify the needs of all.
The defense and promotion of equal dignity and common
personal values must be harmonized with attentive recognition of the difference
and reciprocity
between the sexes where this is relevant to the realization of one's humanity,
whether male
or female. 9
IV. THE IMPORTANCE OF FEMININE VALUES IN THE
LIFE OF THE CHURCH
15.
In the Church, woman as “sign” is more than ever central and fruitful,
following as it does from the
very identity of the Church, as received from God and accepted in faith. It is
this “mystical” identity,
profound and essential, which needs to be kept in mind when reflecting on the
respective roles
of men and women in the Church.
From
the beginning of Christianity, the Church has understood herself to be a
community, brought into
existence by Christ and joined to him by a relationship of love, of which the
nuptial experience is
the privileged expression. From this it follows that the Church's first task is
to remain in the presence
of this mystery of God's love, manifested in Jesus Christ, to contemplate and
to celebrate it.
In this regard, the figure of Mary constitutes the fundamental reference in the
Church. One could say
metaphorically that Mary is a mirror placed before the Church, in which the
Church is invited to recognize
her own identity as well as the dispositions of the heart, the attitudes and
the actions which
God expects from her.
The
existence of Mary is an invitation to the Church to root her very being in
listening and receiving the Word of God, because faith is not so much the
search for God on the part of human beings, as the recognition by men and women
that God comes to us; he visits us and speaks to us.
This
faith, which believes that “nothing is impossible for God” (cf. Gn18:14; Lk
certainty
of trust in the Word of God.
It is from
Mary that the Church always learns the intimacy of Christ. Mary, who carried the small child of
the
proud in the thoughts of their heart... he has lifted up the lowly” (Lk
16.
To look at Mary and imitate her does not mean, however, that the Church
should adopt a passivity
inspired by an outdated conception of femininity. Nor does it condemn the
Church to adangerous
vulnerability in a world where what count above all are domination and power.
In reality, the
way of Christ is neither one of domination (cf. Phil 2:6) nor of power as understood by the world
(cf. Jn18:36). From the Son of
God one learns that this “passivity” is in reality the way of love;
it is a royal power which vanquishes all violence; it is “passion” which saves
the world from sin
and death and recreates humanity. In entrusting his mother to the Apostle John, Jesus on
the Cross
invites his Church to learn from Mary the secret of the love that is
victorious.
10
Far from
giving the Church an identity based on an historically conditioned model of
femininity, the reference to Mary, with her dispositions of listening,
welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting, places the Church in
continuity with the spiritual history of Israel. In Jesus and through him,
these attributes become the vocation of every baptized Christian. Regardless of
conditions, states of life, different vocations with or without public
responsibilities, they are an essential aspect of Christian life. While these
traits should be characteristic of every baptized person, women in fact live
them with particular intensity and naturalness. In this way, women play a role
of maximum importance
in the Church's life by recalling these dispositions to all the baptized and
contributing in a unique way to showing the true face of the Church, spouse of
Christ and mother of believers.
In this
perspective one understands how the reservation of priestly ordination solely
to men22 does not hamper in any way women's access to the heart of Christian
life. Women are called to be unique examples and witnesses for all Christians
of how the Bride is to respond in love to the love of the Bridegroom.
CONCLUSION
17. In Jesus Christ all things have been made new (cf. Rev 21:5). Renewal in grace, however,
cannot take place without conversion of heart. Gazing at Jesus and confessing him as Lord means recognizing the path of love,
triumphant over sin, which he sets out for his disciples.
In
this way, man's relationship with woman is transformed, and the three-fold
concupiscence described
in the First Letter of John (1 Jn
and
great capacity for loving others which their femininity bears. In both cases,
it is a question of humanity's
conversion to God, so that both men and women may come to know God as their “helper”,
as the Creator full of tenderness, as the Redeemer who “so loved the world that
he gave his
only begotten Son” (Jn
Such
a conversion cannot take place without humble prayer to God for that
penetrating gaze which is
able to recognize one's own sin and also the grace which heals it. In a particular
way, we need to ask
this of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the woman in accord with the heart of God, she
who is “blessed
among women” (cf. Lk
The
Church certainly knows the power of sin at work in individuals and in
societies, which at times almost
leads one to despair of the goodness of married couples. But through her faith
in Jesus crucified
and risen, the Church knows even more the power of forgiveness and self-giving
in spite of
any injury or injustice. The peace and wonderment which she trustfully proposes to men and women
today are the peace and wonderment of the garden of the resurrection, which
have enlightened our world and its history with the revelation that “God is
love” (1 Jn 4:8,16). 11
The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, in the
Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect,
approved the present Letter, adopted in the
Ordinary Session of this Congregation, and ordered its
publication.
of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
+ Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect
+ Angelo Amato, SDB
Titular Archbishop of Sila
Secretary
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Footnotes:
1Cf.
John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio (November 22, 1981):
AAS 74 (1982), 81-191; Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem (August 15, 1988): AAS 80 (1988),
1653-1729;
Letter to Families (February 2,
1994): AAS 86 (1994), 868-925; Letter to Women (June
29,
1995): AAS 87 (1995), 803-812; Catechesi sull'amore umano (1979-1984):
Insegnamenti II
(1979)
– VII (1984): English translation in The
Theology of the Body, (
Media,
1997); Congregation for Catholic Education, Educational Guidance in Human Love
(
Sexuality: Guidelines for Education within the
Family (December
8, 1995).
2On
the complex question of gender, see
also The Pontifical Council for the Family, Family,
Marriage and “De facto unions” (
3
Cf.
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides
et ratio (September 14, 1998), 21:
AAS 91 (1999), 22:
“This
opening to the mystery, which came to him [biblical man] through Revelation,
was for him,
in
the end, the source of true knowledge. It was this which allowed his reason to
enter the realm of
the
infinite where an understanding for which until then he had not dared to hope
became a
possibility”.
4
John
Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris
dignitatem (August 15, 1988), 6: AAS
80 (1988), 1662; cf.
St.
Ireneus, Adversus haereses, 5,6,1;
5, 16, 2-3: SC 153, 72-81;
216-221; St. Gregory of Nyssa, De
hominis opificio, 16: PG 44, 180; In Canticum
homilia, 2: PG 44,
805-808;
Enarratio in Psalmum, 4, 8: CCL 38, 17.
5The
Hebrew word ezer which is translated
as “helpmate” indicates the assistance which only a
person
can render to another. It carries no implication of inferiority or exploitation
if we remember
that
God too is at times called ezer with
regard to human beings (cf. Ex 18:4;
Ps10:14).
6John
Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris
dignitatem (August 15, 1988), 6: AAS
80 (1988), 1664.
7John
Paul II, General Audience of
(Boston:
Pauline Books Media, 1997), 63.
12
8John
Paul II, General Audience of
July 23, 1980, reprinted in The
Theology of the Body, (Boston:
Pauline
Books Media, 1997), 125.
9
John
Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris
dignitatem (August 15, 1988), 7: AAS
80 (1988), 1666.
10Ibid., 6, l. c., 1663.
11Congregation
for Catholic Education, Educational
Guidance in Human Love (November 1, 1983),
4.
12Ibid.
13Adversus haereses, 4, 34, 1: SC 100, 846: “Omnem novitatem attulit semetipsum afferens”.
14The
ancient exegetical tradition sees in Mary at
Ecclesiae”.
15Here
the Fourth Gospel presents in a deeper way an element found also in the
Synoptic Gospels
(cf.
Mt
Families (February 2, 1994), 18: AAS 86
(1994), 906-910.
16John
Paul II, Letter to Families (February
2, 1994), 19: AAS 86 (1994),
911; cf. Apostolic Letter
Mulieris dignitatem (August 15, 1988), 23- 25: AAS 80 (1988), 1708-1715.
17Cf.
John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio (November 22, 1981),
16:
AAS 74 (1982), 98-99.
18Ibid., 41, l.c., 132-133; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Instruction Donum vitae
(
19Cf.
John Paul II, Letter to Women (June
29, 1995), 9-10: AAS 87 (1995),
809-810.
20John
Paul II, Letter to Families (February
2, 1994), 17: AAS 86 (1994),
906.
21Encyclical
Letter Laborem exercens (September
14, 1981), 19: AAS 73 (1981),
627.
22Cf.
John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Ordinatio
sacerdotalis (May 22, 1994): AAS
86 (1994), 545-
548;
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Responsum ad dubium regarding the doctrine of the
Apostolic
Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis (October
28, 1995): AAS 87 (1995), 1114.