A Just and True Love: Feminism at the Frontiers of Theological Ethics: Essays in Honor of Margaret Farley

John Paul II’s Understanding of the Church as Teacher of the Truth about Humankind

429 Chapter Fourteen John Paul II’s Understanding of the Church as Teacher of the Truth about Humankind Charles E. Curran John Paul II, as Bishop of Rome for a quarter of a century, had a great impact on the life of the Catholic Church. That impact has been very prominent in the area of moral theology. John Paul II is the only pope in history to have written an entire encyclical dealing with moral theory and norms (Veritatis splendor) and has often written on moral matters. Three of his encyclicals deal with the social mission of the church and social justice, while Evangelium vitae discusses at length the approach to life issues, especially abortion and euthanasia. John Paul II’s interest in moral teaching and moral theology is not surprising . He studied and taught philosophical ethics, but his philosophy was always intimately connected with his theology.1 As one would expect, John Paul II’s moral teaching has been widely discussed and analyzed within the Catholic Church and even outside the church. In the area of social justice in the United States, not all agree in their interpretation of John Paul II’s teaching. The United States bishops in their pastoral letters on peace and the economy together with many other theologians interpret the pope’s position to call for some significant changes in the capitalist system to make it more just, but he is not opposed to capitalism as such. A group of Catholic thinkers describing themselves as neoconservatives (Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Novak, and George Weigel) interpret the pope as being more supportive and less critical of capitalism especially as it is found on the United States scene. Discussions about papal social teaching primarily involve the language of interpretation. The commentators seldom express disagreement or dissent about such teaching . Papal social teaching tends to be rather general and thus allows for different interpretations. John Paul II pointed out that he is not proposing a specific model to be followed but only the principles that should be fleshed out in the economic and political orders.2 On issues of sexuality and life, the papal teachings are more specific andconcrete,oftenspelledoutintermsofabsoluteanduniversalnorms that are always and everywhere obliging—for example, condemnation of contraception, direct sterilization, homosexual genital relationships, divorce and remarriage, direct abortion, euthanasia. Here, there is not much room for different interpretations. One either agrees with these positions or not. Significant numbers of Catholic moral theologians disagree with some of these specific teachings. Much discussion has taken place in the Catholic Church about such dissent. Generally speaking, more liberal Catholic theologians have disagreed with papal teaching in the area of sexual and life issues.3 Margaret Farley, as a groundbreaking Catholic feminist ethicist, illustrates such an approach, but she is far from the only theologian expressing such disagreements. She has disagreed with papal teachings on contraception, sterilization, divorce, homosexuality, and direct abortion.4 On the issue of capital punishment , which the Catechism of the Catholic Church condemned for all practical purposes, more conservative Catholics have disagreed.5 This essay will not discuss specific moral issues but rather will focus on the basic presupposition of John Paul II that the church teaches the truth about humankind. Any attempt to discuss the teachings of John Paul II runs into a very difficult problem. As pope, he wrote and spoke very often. In his almost 100 trips to foreign countries, he often spoke more than five times a day. Obviously, the pope has speechwriters and does not prepare most of these addresses himself. In addition, a scholar could never consult all these different sources. The only acceptable scholarly 430 Charles E. Curran approach, especially in keeping with Catholic ecclesiology, concentrates on the more authoritative writings and teachings. Encyclical letters, while they do not include ex cathedra teachings, constitute the most authoritative form of papal documents. One can logically conclude that the pope spends more time and effort on these documents than on any others. John Paul II wrote fourteen encyclicals in the course of his service as Bishop of Rome.6 Three of his early encyclicals form a Trinitarian cycle—Redemptor hominis (1979), Dives in misericordia (1980), and Dominum et vivificantem (1986). Redemptoris mater (1987) deals with Mary, while Redemptoris missio (1990) discusses evangelization and missionary work. The three social encyclicals are: Laborem exercens (1981), Sollicitudo rei socialis (1987), and Centesimus annus (1991). Veritatis splendor (1993) discusses moral theology and...