Pope pained to see service of women slipping into servitude

October 12, 2013 - By calling woman to motherhood, God entrusted her with the human being in a very special way, which by no means is servitude. Pope Francis made the point on Saturday while addressing some 150 participants in two day study seminar organized by the Women’s Section of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Laity to mark the 25th anniversary of Blessed Pope John Paul II’s 1988 Apostolic Letter “Mulieris Dignitatem” on the dignity and vocation of women. The theme of the Oct. 10-11 seminar was “God Entrusts the Human Being to Woman”. Reflecting on the theme, Pope Francis said that John Paul II was obviously referring to the motherhood of the woman who conceives, carries in her woman and delivers children of man. This, the pope pointed out, is not mere biological data but has rich implications both for the woman herself, for her being, her relationships, for respect of human life and life in general. “By calling the woman to motherhood, “the Pope said, “God entrusted her with the human being in a very special way.” Holy Father cautioned against two dangers, that mortify the woman and her vocation. The first is to reduce motherhood to a social role, though noble, but which sets her apart with her potentialities, not fully recognizing her value in building the community. This, the Pope said, is true both in civil society as well as in the Church. As a reaction to this there is another danger in the opposite direction, of promoting a type of emancipation which in order to gain ground from males, abandons her femininity with all its valuable traits. The Pope urged women to have a special sensibility for the ‘things of God”, above all in helping all to understand the mercy, tenderness and the love of God for all. The Pope said he loves to think of the Church as ‘she’, a ‘woman’, a ‘mother’ and not as a male. He said he suffers to see the role of service of the woman slipping into servitude in the Church and in some organizations. Such servitude is not service, he added. (Source: Vatican)