Editorial: Pope Francis, a Man Among Men?

Published in Spectator Sept. 27, 2015

Pope Francis has brought much more to our shores than any of us could have expected. We knew he was up to date on climate change, that he grieves over displaced peoples and is disgusted with juggernaut economies that grind ordinary families into the ground. What we weren’t prepared for was the grace.

Steeped as our body politic is in acid partisanship, the presence of this holy man has made us stop and look around, as if wakening to find the world lit by rainbows on all sides. He ignites in glee when children approach him. Steps out of his plexiglass bubble to touch them, hold their heads in his hands, and kiss them. He continually asks us, face to face, to pray for him. He paces himself by stopping to pray before a statue or candle along the way.

He instructs us to eschew fundamentalism in both religion and politics. In no uncertain terms, he condemns the manipulation of economies to benefit the few. He reminds us that we are all immigrants. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” he said to Congress.

Pope Francis touches us with his deep love for the natural world, and demands that we get serious about climate change right now. He speaks of the beauty of the family. Repeatedly he tells us to honor life, in all its stages. He condemns war, capital punishment, and abortion. This is the one I’m having trouble with.

It’s not that I expected him to condone abortion per se, but I desperately want him to feel as strongly for women as he does for children and men. During his visit to Catholic Charities, Francis spoke of St. Joseph as the figure he prays to every day for guidance. He said he identifies completely with the emotions of a man whose wife must deliver her child, the son of God, without so much as a roof over their heads. It was brilliant, his reminding homeless people that Jesus was born homeless. But.

Francis said nothing about Mary, whose body was, according to the story, impregnated without her knowledge or consent, and who was made to travel by donkey in the last weeks of her pregnancy, only to deliver her son in a barn. No empathy there? Really? Sorry, but for me, the key figure in this vignette is not Joseph.

And when today a woman discovers that she is, for whatever reason, unexpectedly pregnant, the key figure is not Congress, or the Tea Party. It’s not the priest, and it’s not the pope. It is a woman asking herself, can I do this? Will I still be the person I want to be?

As a nation that prides itself on notions of liberty, we must insist that the person making that decision is the one who bears the direct consequences. So if Pope Francis wants to appeal directly to women on this issue, I think it’s appropriate. Women have many influences to process when they exercise their right to decide. But if he’s asking Congress to intervene and legislate away women’s bodily autonomy, believe me, we are over the rainbows. And it’s way past time for women priests; we need a woman pope. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Lee Marcus is a local playwright and former writer for the Evening Tribune.