Seeing the Light: The new pope can open his eyes or continue the lighter side of social justice

Opinion: In January 1959, only three months into his pontificate, John XXIII called for the convening of Vatican II, which actually opened in October of 1962 and was attended by all of the world's Roman Catholic bishops, as well as representatives from the major Orthodox and Protestant churches. Most observers thought that John XXIII would merely do reform of canon law and some liturgical and spiritual renewal. But the unexpected happen when John XXIII called for an aggiornamento – an opening of the windows of the Catholic Church to the modern world. Since the closing of Vatican II in 1965 the Catholic Church made radical reforms in terms of liturgy in vernacular languages, proclamation of religious freedom, development of ministries for the laity, and greater emphasis on the social doctrine of the church. However, in 1968 John XXIII's successor Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae (''On Human Life''), which condemned the use of artificial contraception for birth control. He resurrected natural law moral theology to justify the argument that the use of artificial means for family planning was contrary to the natural law. Natural law logic became foundational for theological development under John Paul II (papacy from 1978 to 2005) and of the work of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, most particularly Ratzinger's articulation of homosexuality as an ''intrinsic moral disorder.'' This history is critical to an understanding of the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis. He inherits both the legacy of Vatican II reforms as well that of John Paul II and Benedict XVI's natural law revival. I see these as the dynamics between a pastoral approach and a legalistic approach to church development. Under Benedict XVI the Vatican has maintained a highly legalistic approach to the LGBT community, particularly fighting every human-rights effort to include sexual orientation and gender expression within human-rights laws around the world. ... (more)

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