For the Floor
November 23, 2010
In your opinion and in light of the Pope’s recent musings on illicit relations with a person infected with AIDS, do you believe
a) The Vatican is moving toward a more practical role (pastoral theology so to speak) that seeks direct engagement with practical difficulties as contrasted with the principled light stand we found quite prominent with John Paul II that attempted to stay above the political difficulties of various controversies.
b) We are seeing an aberrational situation that is mostly reflective of the specific situation in Africa. In particular, the Church’s position had been caricatured, and hence its practical arguments weren’t being given proper consideration.
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4 Comments
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Nice framing of the question M.Z.
For the record. Mostly b) with a little a) as a nice side effect.
Thanks Brett. I would be happy with (a) myself, but I have my doubts. I’m not questioning JPII, but his work has left a real hole on the pastoral side that could use some filling. It would be nice if BXVI would start to do that filling. (No, I’m not speaking in code.) Prophetic witness is good, but it is good to allow your hands to get dirty every now and then and offer choices from the options available.
I agree with Brett on this one. It’s (b) with some (a) as a nice side effect. I do think that Benedict is more comfortable with engaging particulars than was JPII, but this may just be a feature of his personality, culture, or academic training rather than an intentional directive of his papacy.
I wonder how prevalent male prostitution is in Africa?