Cardinal Bergoglio raises the alarm: Denying baptism
to children born out of wedlock is a form of “pharisaic Gnosticism” that
“drives people away from salvation”
Gianni Valente
Rome
He almost
apologised for the strong impact of the chosen image: that of an unmarried
mother, a “poor girl” who beat the temptation instilled in her by some to
abort, who had the courage to bring her child into the world and who then
“found herself on a pilgrimage, going from parish to parish, trying to find
someone who would baptise her child.”
The
Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, did not hesitate to
reprimand the reason that is repeatedly given to justify “denied” baptisms: “I
say this with sadness and if it sounds like a complaint or an offensive comment
please forgive me: in our ecclesiastical region there are presbyteries that
will not baptise children whose mothers are not married because they have been
conceived outside holy wedlock.”
This unique
call for an end to the use of sacramental blackmail to subdue the hopes of
those who want their children to be baptised, was pronounced Sunday by Fr.
Bergoglio in his homily, during the closing mass for the Convention of the
ecclesiastical region of Buenos Aires. The convention examined the issue of
urban pastoral care.
In this
“hijacking” of the sacrament that marks the beginning of Christian life, the
Jesuit cardinal sees the expression of a rigorous and hypocritical
neo-clericalism which also uses the sacraments as tools to affirm its own
supremacy. For example by rubbing the fragility and wounds of faithful in their
faces or by dampening the hopes and expectations of those who supposedly do not
fulfil the “requirements” in terms of doctrinal preparation or moral status.
Not only are such pastoral models misleading, but according to Bergoglio, this modus
operandi distorts and rejects the dynamics of Christ’s incarnation, which
is reduced to a mere doctrinal slogan to serve the interests of religious
power. “Jesus did not preach his own politics: he accompanied others. The
conversions he inspired took place precisely because of his willingness to
accompany, which makes us all brothers and children and not members of an NGO
or proselytes of some multinational company.”
A dynamics
of closeness and liberation that finds an objective and lasting expression in
the gift of the sacraments. But according to Bergoglio, by clericalising the
Church, the hypocrites of today “drive God’s people away from salvation.” They
are the followers of the “Pharisees’ hypocritical Gnostisism,” which Jesus
always turned his back on, “appearing among the people, the publicans and the
sinners.”
Bergoglio’s
words express a concern that has been evident in the Catholic Church of Buenos
Aires for a while now. The archdiocese has, for a number of years now, - taking
stock of the insights of Fr. Rafael Tello, the theologian of the poor and of
popular worship who passed away in 2002 - been suggesting pastoral approaches
to facilitate the baptism of children, young people and adults who because of
various life circumstances and given today’s secularisation, were not baptised.
This does not mean any conditions will be added to the existing principle
contained in the Code of Canon Law, which states that it is the parents who
request that their children be baptised.
The aim is
to ensure that no parent - starting with those whose family situation is
irregular - leaves their parish because for some reason, someone took it upon
themselves to deny baptism to said parent’s children.
Temos Homem !
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