Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Pope And Prejudice



A riff on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? Or just a bad title early on Boxing Day? The title has to do with Pope Benedict's odd ideas about prejudice. Here he talks about the need to overcome prejudice for world peace:

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI used his weekly Sunday blessing to appeal for people to recognize their common bonds.

"Jesus came for each one of us and made us brothers," he said from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square as pilgrims and tourists began gathering for the Christmas Eve midnight Mass to be celebrated by the pope.

Benedict said people should strive to "overcome preconceived ideas and prejudices, tear down barriers and eliminate contrasts that divide or worse set individuals and peoples against each other, so as to build together a world of justice and peace."

Nice, isn't it?

And here is Benedict, again, on the topic of prejudice:

"I cannot silence my worry about the laws on unmarried couples," Benedict said. "Many of these couples have chosen that road because, for the time being, they don't feel up to accepting the judicially ordered and binding cohabitation of marriage."

"And so joining a man and a woman, and two people of the same sex becomes the same," Benedict said. "With that, the ominous theories that deny any relevance to the human person's masculinity and femininity are tacitly confirmed."

Butbutbut... Did you notice how Jesus came in the first quote and made us all brothers? You know, male siblings. What happened to the relevance of the human person's masculinity and femininity? Or is it rather that we should discard prejudice among men and not otherwise?