THEOLOGY 4:

CHRISTIAN VALUES FOR ALL

POLITICAL EDUCATION | RESPONSIBLE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA | JUSTICE AND PEACE

MODULE:
POLITICAL EDUCATION

THE CHURCH AND THE STATE | ROLE OF LOVE IN CITIZENSHIP | LEADERSHIP LIKE JESUS
Lesson 2: Amoris Laetitia: Role of Love in Citizenship
 Citizenship: As a Status and As an Ideal

As a Status As an Ideal
• it brings to mind one’s • citizenship raises the issues of
relation to the state, obligation and responsibilities;
specifically one’s privileges, thus, implicating one to the
rights, and identity. political participation and
involvement in the affairs of the
• highlights one’s bond to the state.
other members of the • puts before every individual
state, as in sharing a standards of behavior by which
common identity or ethnic one may be educated and formed
characteristics. or punished for having strayed
from the standards of citizenship.
“Citizenship is also a bond that extends
beyond basic family ties to unite people
of different genetic backgrounds.”

“It makes a variety of members into a

whole that is aware of its identity
beyond the clan or kinship network.”
“Citizens also carry with them some cultural marks,
such as customary roles or positions that have been
handed-down from one generation to the next generation.
 
These cultural inscriptions would confer on every
individual one’s specific social status and obligation to
fellow members of society. One may be the head of the
family, the caregiver, the peacemaker, the prophet, or
the leader, where such roles are important for one’s
place in the political spectrum and participation.”
Amoris Laetitia:
Ideal of Love Emanating from Each Family

• A 256-page Apostolic exhortation

entitled “Amoris Laetitia” which
means “the Joy of Love”.
• Pope Francis, in this document,
called for the Roman Catholic
Church to be more welcoming and
less judgmental, and he seemingly
signaled a pastoral path, and calls
for priests to welcome single
parents, gay people and unmarried
straight couples who are living
together.
Amoris Laetitia:
Ideal of Love Emanating from Each Family

• The document is likely to stir

debate and disagreement
among many Catholics,
especially in interpreting the
pope’s language explaining
how priests should work with
divorced and remarried
Catholics to help them return to
full standing in the church.
Remarried Divorcees
 Remarried Divorcees
Issue
• Whether people who have divorced
and remarried should be allowed to
take Holy Communion.
• At the moment, second civil
marriages are deemed adulterous
unless a formal annulment of the
first union has been granted.
• Liberal Catholics have argued that this
shuts the Church’s door in the face of
millions of people.
• Conservatives have argued that
divorce is wrong.
What Pope Francis says:
• “It is important that the divorced who have
entered a new union should be made to feel
part of the church.
• Language or conduct that might lead them to
feel discriminated against should be
avoided, and they should be encouraged to
participate in the life of the community.”
• He adds that a conversation between an
individual and their priest (internal forum)
“contributes to the formation of a correct
judgment on what hinders the possibility of a
fuller participation in the life of the church”.
• He also writes: “Divorce is an evil and the
increasing number of divorces is very
troubling. ”
What it means…

The church should not turn its back on remarried

divorcees.
Without clearly stating that such individuals can
take Holy Communion, Francis is clearly
encouraging priests and bishops to make their own
judgments.
In practice, this already happens in thousands of
local churches, but the new document is likely to
lead to further liberalization on this issue.
Same-sex Relationships
 Same-sex Relationships

Issue What Pope Francis says:

“Every person, regardless of sexual
Whether the church should orientation, ought to be respected in
be more inclusive to gay his or her dignity and treated with
consideration, while ‘every sign of
(LGBT) people, renounce unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully
its traditional view that avoided, particularly any form of
aggression and violence.”
homosexuality is an He restates that “there are absolutely
“intrinsic disorder” and no grounds for considering
homosexual unions to be in any way
even allow same-sex similar or even remotely analogous to
marriages. God’s plan for marriage and family”.
What it means…

Francis is adopting more tolerant, inclusive

language while not making any doctrinal changes.
It is significant that the phrase “intrinsic disorder” is
absent from the document.
And his reference to aggression and violence signals
that the church should oppose the criminalization
and persecution of LGBT people, which is a big
issue in countries such as Uganda.
Abortion
 Abortion

Issue What Pope Francis says:

“So great is the value of human
Would the pope life, and so inalienable the right
to life of an innocent child
soften the church’s growing in the mother’s womb,
uncompromising that no alleged right to one’s own
body can justify a decision to
opposition to terminate that life.”
He restates: “Those that work in
abortion? healthcare facilities are reminded
of the moral duty of
conscientious objection.”
What it means…

No change, and
no hint of any
future change.
Sex Education
Sex Education

Issue What Pope Francis says:

“It is not easy to approach the issue
Would the of sex education in an age when
sexuality tends to be trivialized and
Church’s position impoverished.
It can only be seen within the
on sex education broader framework of an education
for love, for mutual self-giving.
be clarified? In such a way, the language of
sexuality would not be sadly
impoverished but illuminated and
enriched. ”
Sex Education

Issue What Pope Francis says:

• “Sex education should provide

Would the information at a proper time and in a

way suited to [children’ s] age.

Church’s position
• It is not helpful to overwhelm them with
data without also helping them to
develop a critical sense in dealing with
on sex education the onslaught of new ideas and
suggestions, the flood of pornography

be clarified? and the overload of stimuli that can deform

sexuality.
• Young people should be helped to
recognize and to seek out positive
influences, while shunning the things
that cripple their capacity for love. ”
What it means…

This section of the document is titled

“The need for sex education” – an
implied endorsement. But, not
surprisingly, the Pope wants children
to be taught about sex in a moral
context, rather than in a solely factual
way.