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Pope Francis’ fraught negotiations with the cultural left

POPE FRANCIS LOUVAIN STUDENTS POPE FRANCIS LOUVAIN STUDENTS
Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with university students at the French-speaking UC Louvain campus in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, Sept. 28, 2024. Founded in 1425, the world's oldest Catholic university was celebrating its 600th anniversary. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

A recent visit by Pope Francis to Belgium illustrates the problems and perils in negotiating with the cultural left. Perhaps no one else has striven so well to reach out to those disaffected with the Church and her teachings. Pope Francis has done this “to a fault” according to many on the cultural right. But, setting aside those grievances, it remains true that, for whatever his motives, this pope has surely reached out to the left. Nevertheless, it is increasingly clear in our times that there will be no compromises with them; unconditional surrender is what is sought and demanded by them.

Consider the strong rebuke issued by the historically Catholic University of Louvain. The pope met with students there on Sept. 28 and stressed the importance of climate action and of promoting women in the Church, but without the influence of ideology. It was that last part, the concern for “ideology,” that infects the discussion, which seems to have set them off. Here are the offending words:

“What characterizes women, that which is truly feminine, is not stipulated by consensus or ideologies, just as dignity itself is ensured not by laws written on paper, but by an original law written on our hearts. … Women are at the heart of salvation history, since it is through Mary that Jesus came into the world. Womanhood, then, speaks to us of fruitful welcome, nurturing and life-giving dedication.”

Appealing to human nature

In this regard, the pope also condemned sex-change and transgenderism, saying, “It’s ugly when a woman wants to be a man, no, she’s a woman!”

Note, therefore, that the pope is appealing to the “nature” of things. All things, including human beings, have a nature. “Nature” as a philosophical and scientific concept describes the essential properties and causes of individual things or people. The pope attributes the cause of our human nature as God, and the original law written on our hearts.

Now this notion runs against leftist and feminist ideologies that insist that a feminine or masculine nature does not really exist and that everything of this sort is merely a social construct having nothing to do with a given nature, if nature exists at all. Hence, a letter from a coalition of faculty and students of the “UC Louvain” rebuked the pope as follows:

“UC Louvain expresses its incomprehension and disapproval of the position expressed by Pope Francis regarding the role of women in the church and in society. UC Louvain can only express its disagreement with this deterministic and reductive position.”

Thus, the long-held view from antiquity that there is a human nature that includes sexual differentiation and that this impacts femininity and masculinity is called by UC Louvain incomprehensible, deterministic and reductive. They further go on to link such thinking to sexism and sexual violence: “UC Louvain is an inclusive university and committed to the fight against sexist and sexual violence. It reaffirms its desire for everyone to flourish within it and in society, whatever their origins, gender or sexual orientation,” the university said. “It calls on the Church to follow the same path, without any form of discrimination.”

Seeking truth, not ideology

My, my, so many charges against the pope! Never mind that noticing differences between men and women is a proper form of “discrimination,” which has for its original definition: “the recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.” But modern parlance defines it more often in pejorative terms: “unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people.” But is noting a feminine and a masculine genius of being human unjust? Is this not, to use leftist terms, a celebration of diversity? God has set forth a human sexual distinction. And since humans are a union of body and spiritual soul, it makes sense that these distinctions are more than merely a bodily matter.

To simply ignore the sexual distinction that comes from God is just what the pope called it, an “ideology.” Ideologies are seldom troubled by facts that suggest something less than an absolute allegiance and application. Ideologies are held with a religious zeal that sees any opposing or even clarifying notions as pure heresy, as evil and dangerous. When ideologues gain power, they are not willing to negotiate and demonstrate that their celebration of diversity and calls for tolerance were disingenuous at best and a lie at worst.

Negotiating with the cultural left most often leads to ruinous results. This is because this world and the prince of this world will never be satisfied until every ounce of your integrity and faith is gone. It is a kind of incremental suicide. And, therefore, note that even the most sympathetic pope to liberal and leftist thinking will never be liberal enough for them. They will always outpace the Church in the race to the bottom. Thus, the pope rightly resisted his opponents and invited them to rediscover that truth is found, not invented, by ideologues:

“Studying makes sense only when it seeks the truth, and in seeking it we understand that we are made in order to find it. … Truth is meant to be found, for it is inviting, accessible and generous. … If we renounce the search for truth, then study becomes an instrument of power, a way to control others; it no longer serves but dominates. Whereas the truth sets us free.”

It seems unlikely that academics of this sort will listen. Unconditional surrender is what they seek. The Church must follow them, but they will certainly not follow us. It is time to be sober about this.