Pope Won't Say No, But Says "Oh"

Commonweal's blog points to a recent  interview with Pope Benedict, noting his determination to present Christianity as a "positive option" and to show how moral pronouncements of "no" stem from a series of deep "yeses." The Pope and I are in complete agreement on this approach, as I'm sure he'll be glad to know. People who are afraid of religion work to characterize it as a series of musn'ts. It's up to people of faith to show how a "no" to overconsumption is a "yes" to generosity, or a "no" to promiscuity is just the natural result of a joyful "yes" to fidelity.

 

Unfortunately, although the pope would prefer not to say "no," he doesn't seem to have a problem with "Oh, well." Asked about the need for increased visibility for women's leadership in the church, he reiterated the teaching against women's ordination and added, oddly, "But there's a juridical problem: according to Canon Law the power to take legally binding decisions is limited to Sacred Orders. So there are limitations from this point of view . . ."

 

Hmm, too bad there's nobody in the room with "the totality of legislative, executive, and judicial power" to alter canon law, huh?

 

Maybe the Pope needs to do like John Paul II, known for referencing himself in his own encyclicals, and ponder a comment he made elsewhere in this interview. How much time do we have, really? Eighty years? Ninety?  

 

"When you have so little time you can't say everything you want to say about "no."