Preventing disappointment

The impact of ordination.

Many famous lectures have  shown convincing theological, historical and humanitarian arguments that women and men should be given  the same rights and positions in the Church. Pope Francis knows these arguments. Meanwhile, some women have got leadership positions in the Vatican.  However the pope reitterates that priesthood for women is unmentionable.

His silence might  have  to do with the misbehouviar of some bishops and priests.  For years, the clergy's image stemmed from the idea that bishops and priests were supposed to have a special connection with God. The Almighty had enabled them to unfailingly judge what was  right and what was wrong. They had an enviable position. However, the scandals showed that this whole idea had to be abandoned. The clergy's judgment of right and wrong has no special value.

A group of bishops has already openly declared that none of them has the so-called special supernatural connection. Then priests too do not have it. It means that women who would be ordained, discover sooner or later that they have not been given that supposedly enviable position but have been made happy with an empty shell. They have been absorbed into the squeezing discipline of the clergy with a title that is not what they imagined it to be. 

Silently, Pope Francis waits until reformist activists gradually discover for themselves that advocacy for women in the priesthood can be replaced by an advocacy for women at addressses for helping the needy.  Francis himself has already started.  He dreams of field hospitals or aid addresses for the needy. Aid of all kinds requires pro bono lawyers, other expert volunteers and transparent funds.

In the process, the ills of the clerical system can be avoided and the qualities of women in particular can be fully appreciated.