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LATIN AMERICA: New Pope a Disappointment to Progressives, Women
By Mario Osava*
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 19 (IPS) - "Today was a sad day," Maria José Rosado
Nunes, head of the Brazilian branch of Catholics for the Right to Decide,
said in response to the selection of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the new
pope, a decision that in Latin America also disappointed progressive members
of the clergy and married priests.
Ratzinger "inspired the most hard-line documents against women produced by
the Catholic Church," and was "the soul of the papacy of John Paul II,"
while "logic indicates that changes with regard to women should not be
expected" during the new pontificate, said Rosado Nunes, a sociologist by
profession.
But his selection "came as no surprise" because John Paul built "a College
of Cardinals in his own image and likeness," thus ensuring that his
successor would maintain his "conservative orientation in terms of sexual
morality, reproductive rights, and, to some extent, social issues," she told
IPS.
She predicted a "deepening of the abyss between the Church hierarchy and the
people of God," while expressing the hope of a strengthening of movements
like the International Movement We Are Church (IMWAC) and a renewal of the
process that began with the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, held from
1962 to 1965.
The tension between the leadership of the Church and the grassroots
movements will grow, agreed Luiz Alberto Gomez de Souza, director of the
Centre of Religious Statistics and Social Research (CERIS).
Pressure is growing for the Church to face up to issues that have been "held
in deep freeze", like violence, sexuality, reproductive rights, and the
ordaining of women priests, while the cardinals "were incapable of promoting
changes, and chose instead continuity and Roman centralism," he argued.
"What is occurring in the Catholic communities is important," Gomez told
IPS, saying he did not rule out hope for change in the future, although not
for now, because "the Church is surprising."
For the Movement of Married Priests, the choice of Ratzinger was "a
short-term disaster" that will postpone any debate on celibacy, said
Francisco Salatiel, a theologian and former priest who left the priesthood
to get married in 1978.
But the name adopted by the new pope, Benedict XVI, awakened expectations of
a possible "rupture with the previous pontificate," he added.
The name is significant, and came as a surprise, he said, because Benedicto
XV "broke with the prior pontificate of Pius X" and stood out in his efforts
for peace during World War I.
He said it is possible that Benedict XVI will assume a "global vision" of
peace, and that he will be "less rigid" than he was at the head of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But he added that "we cannot
predict how he will act, as pope."
Ratzinger, who Salatiel met as "a young priest, who was shy and modest,"
became an important figure in the Vatican as a defender of "hard-line,
fundamentalist stances," said the former priest, who criticised the new
pope's "dogmatism and absolute certainties, because faith is an ongoing
historical search," as the Bible demonstrates.
But many in Latin America welcomed the selection of the new pope. Referring
to the decision reached by the 115 elector cardinals, Brazilian Foreign
Minister Celso Amorim said that a choice "inspired by the Holy Spirit can
only be good."
Leonardo Boff, one of the leaders of the liberation theology movement, which
calls for the Church to be more politically and social active on behalf of
the poor, suffered at Ratzinger's hands.
In 1985 he was silenced, and when the punishments continued, he finally left
the priesthood in 1992.
Boff said that as a Christian, he "respected the decision, despite the
difficulties in loving this pope."
"I hope he thinks more about humanity than about the Church," and holds a
dialogue with other churches and with the world of science, he said.
Popes have an influence in one direction or another, but the Church remains,
because it is "a system, an institution," said Guatemalan indigenous human
rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Rigoberta Menchú, who added
that she hoped to have "the same close relationship" with Benedict XVI as
she enjoyed with his predecessor.
Yet the selection made for the new pope was "lamentable" in the eyes of
Chilean theologian Alvaro Ramis of the Diego Medellín Centre, who is also an
organiser of the Chilean Social Forum.
As far as he is concerned, Ratzinger is the cardinal whose performance has
shown him to be the "most conservative, most anti-ecumenical, and most
opposed to opening the Church up to the world," he told IPS.
The Catholic Church is clearly "regressing" to the stances held prior to
Vatican II, "with its back turned on the world and totally closed in upon
itself," said Ramis, recalling that Ratzinger said divorced people and
politicians who consistently promote legal abortion should be denied
communion, and that he condemned other religions, proclaiming Catholicism
the only valid faith.
Argentine priest Eduardo de la Serna, member of a progressive priests
movement, commented to IPS that Ratzinger's election will represent "very
difficult times for the church of the poor in Latin America." It is unlikely
that he will be any different "from when he condemned liberation theology
without even having studied it properly," he added.
"Ratzinger does not grasp the reality of the poor," unlike John Paul II, who
came from a poor country, de la Serna said. At the same time, however, he
said he did not rule out the possibility of surprises in the future, since
Ratzinger was once progressive, and could "return to his roots."
In Cuba, there is fear that the conservatism of the new pope could lead the
Catholic Church to lose more followers to other religions and sects, as well
as exacerbating the dependence of local Catholic churches on the Vatican,
according to journalist and historian Enrique López Oliva, a former
professor of the history of religion at the University of Havana.
The Cuban Catholic Church is already "one of the most dependent on Rome," as
a consequence of confronting the "all-powerful socialist state that adopted
atheism as an official policy for three decades," said López Oliva. "Many
fear that this could lead to a new schism."
Yet there are still some who cling to the slim possibility of change. As
pope, "Ratzinger could change and understand that he is not only a
representative of a conservative (leader), but that he now belongs to the
Catholic people as a whole, who will be listening to him," said Nilton
Giese, a spokesman for the Latin American Council of Churches, based in
Quito, Ecuador, with a membership of over 150 churches.
"CLAI's mission is to promote the unity of all churches, which is why the
first thing we must do is congratulate the Catholics on this decision," said
Giese. He added that this was not the time to judge what the new pope will
do, although it is well-known that "he supports the staunchest and most
conservative stances."
If Ratzinger sticks to the hard line that led him to oppose the ordination
of women and punish the proponents of liberation theology, "the consequences
for the Catholic Church are unpredictable," noted Giese, a Brazilian
minister.
In the meantime, the newly elected pope received a vote of confidence from
the president of the Venezuelan Bishops Conference, Baltazar Porras, the
Archbishop of Mérida. "More than conservative, Ratzinger is a man who is
very clear in his way of thinking... with very definite ideas and a great
capacity to translate them into reality," he declared.
* With additional reporting by Marcela Valente in Argentina, Gustavo Gonzalez in Chile, Patricia Grogg in Cuba, Diego Cevallos in Mexico and Humberto Márquez in Venezuela.
(END/2005)
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