[Catholic Caucus] Towards a Female Pontiff of an Emasculated Church

Of course, women priests and popes are part of a bigger package containing all sorts of theological surprises...

To make the Church less masculine: this is the task that Pope Francis has given the International Theological Commission. Or at least, that is the official translation of the Italian word Francis used, smaschilizzare, which the English-language media rightly translated as "demasculinize", i.e. "emasculate, castrate". "Rendere meno maschile," which Francis did not say, would translate literally as "to make less masculine."

But how can anyone, much less a pope, contemplate demasculinizing a Church that was founded by the only-begotten Son of God who came down from heaven and become man? Where did Francis get this blasphemously bizarre idea?

In tasking the Commission, Francis refers to the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthazar, who wrote that the "Marian dimension of the Church is antecedent to that of the Petrine, without being in any way divided from it or being less complementary." Borrowing from von Balthazar, John Paul II stated in Mulieris Dignitatem that "one can say that the Church is both 'Marian' and 'Apostolic-Petrine.'" And in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we find that "the 'Marian' dimension of the Church precedes the 'Petrine.'" Nowhere do we find what Francis has said, that "the Marian is more important than the Petrine," by which he means that the feminine is more important than the masculine as far as the Church is concerned.

The first phase of the feminization of the Church was the creation of altar girls, female lectors, and female extraordinary ministers; the current phase is the creation of female deacons, which will probably take place after the conclusion of the Synod.

Francis seems to have drawn inspiration not from von Balthazar, but from self-described radical lesbian feminst Mary Daly, who wrote in Beyond God the Father that liberation from the patriarchy "involves a castrating of language and images that reflect and perpetuate the structures of a sexist world. It castrates precisely in the sense of cutting away the phallocentric value system imposed by patriarchy...[I]f God is male, male is God...The idea of a unique male savior may be seen as one more legitimation of male superiority. Indeed, there is reason to see it as a perpetuation of patriarchal religion's 'original sin' of servitude to patriarchy itself."

Francis agrees with Daly that the masculinization of the Church, which Daly calls patriarchal religion's servitude to patriarchy, is "one of the great sins," as he calls it. Although he says that this sin cannot be resolved "per la via ministeriale," by the ministerial path or way, it is difficult to see how it can be resolved otherwise. How can you demasculinize the Church without creating female deacons, priests, bishops, cardinals, and eventually popes? If women are more important than men, as Francis thinks they are, it makes no sense to forbid them access to la via ministeriale.

Of course, women priests and popes are part of a bigger package containing all sorts of theological surprises as well as certain practices that seem to be dear to the heart of women who aspire to the priesthood. This can be seen by the activities of FutureChurch, an organization dedicated to the ordination of female priests, which laments the Synod on Synodality's recent Synthesis Document because "in terms of LGBTQ+ justice and inclusion...the document’s vague and non-committal language was particularly devastating given the Pope’s pre-synod remarks on blessing gay relationships."

After this will come the creation of female priests, the logical step after female diaconates. Then female bishops, cardinals, and finally popes.

FutureChurch lists as one of its upcoming events "Co-Creating Beauty: Queer Bodies and Queer Loves Beyond the Anathemas," which "explores how our roles as co-creators with God allows for new ways to understand the truth revealed by sexuality and gender identity beyond the boundaries of heteronormativity." Another event is "Catholic Fasting Literature in a Context of Body Hatred: A Feminist Critique," at which the presenter "argues that the social conditions of misogynistic body hatred and the culture of fasting during Lent perpetuates disordered eating."

Paradoxically, the organization that promotes transgender self-mutilation considers fasting during Lent a manifestation of body hatred.

The Women's Ordination Conference is cut from the same cloth as FutureChurch, but their presentation is more subtle. "The Church," they say, "must be open to the full and equal participation of women and people of all gender identities in all its ministries"; and their long-term goals are to "incorporate feminist, womanist, mujerista, and other liberating spiritualities into every-day Catholicism."

Will women priests and popes be real women or transgenders? Now that transgenders receive the sacrament of baptism, they too are members of the "baptismal priesthood." To bar them from the office of priest or pope would be a flagrant act of indietrismo, "a nostalgic disease."

The first phase of the feminization of the Church was the creation of altar girls, female lectors, and female extraordinary ministers; the current phase is the creation of female deacons, which will probably take place after the conclusion of the Synod. As the Synthesis Document states, "initiatives enabling shared discernment on controversial doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues...should be set in motion before the next Session of the Assembly." After this will come the creation of female priests, the logical step after female diaconates. Then female bishops, cardinals, and finally popes.

Will women priests and popes be real women or transgenders? Now that transgenders receive the sacrament of baptism, they too are members of the "baptismal priesthood." To bar them from the office of priest or pope would be a flagrant act of indietrismo, "a nostalgic disease."

Habemus papessam will signify that Francis' demasculinization of the Church will be very near its consummation.

At the end of his remarks to the Commission, possibly to show he has a sense of humor, Francis asked the theologians to join him in praying to God the Father that His will be done on earth.

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