 LETTER OF POPE JOHN PAUL II TO WOMEN
June 29, 1995
I greet
you all most cordially,
women throughout the world!
1. I am writing this letter to each one of you as a sign of
solidarity and gratitude on the eve of the Fourth World Conference
on Women, to be held in Beijing this coming September.
Before all else, I wish to express my deep appreciation to the
United Nations Organization for having sponsored this very
significant event. The Church desires for her part to contribute to
upholding the dignity, role and rights of women, not only by the
specific work of the Holy See's official Delegation to the
Conference in Beijing, but also by speaking directly to the heart
and mind of every woman. Recently, when Mrs. Gertrude Mongella, the
Secretary General of the Conference, visited me in connection with
the Peking meeting, I gave her a written Message which stated some
basic points of the Church's teaching with regard to women's issues.
That message, apart from the specific circumstances of its origin,
was concerned with a broader vision of the situation and problems of
women in general, in an attempt to promote the cause of women in the
Church and in today's world. For this reason, I arranged to have it
forwarded to every Conference of Bishops, so that it could be
circulated as widely as possible.
Taking up the themes I addressed in that document, I would now like
to speak directly to every woman, to reflect with her on the
problems and the prospects of what it means to be a woman in our
time. In particular I wish to consider the essential issue of the
dignity and rights of women, as seen in the light of the word of
God.
This "dialogue" really needs to begin with a word of thanks. As I
wrote in my Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, the Church
"desires to give thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for the 'mystery of
woman' and for every woman-for all that constitutes the eternal
measure of her feminine dignity, for the 'great works of God', which
throughout human history have been accomplished in and through her"
(No. 31).
2. This word of thanks to the Lord for his mysterious plan regarding
the vocation and mission of women in the world is at the same time a
concrete and direct word of thanks to women, to every woman, for all
that they represent in the life of humanity.
Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings
within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This
experience makes you become God's own smile upon the newborn child,
the one who guides your child's first steps, who helps it to grow,
and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey
of life.
Thank you, women who are wives! You irrevocably join your future to
that of your husbands, in a relationship of mutual giving, at the
service of love and life.
Thank you, women who are daughters and women who are sisters! Into
the heart of the family, and then of all society, you bring the
richness of your sensitivity, your intuitiveness, your generosity
and fidelity.
Thank you, women who work! You are present and active in every area
of life-social, economic, cultural, artistic and political. In this
way you make an indispensable contribution to the growth of a
culture which unites reason and feeling, to a model of life ever
open to the sense of "mystery", to the establishment of economic and
political structures ever more worthy of humanity.
Thank you, consecrated women! Following the example of the greatest
of women, the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, you open
yourselves with obedience and fidelity to the gift of God's love.
You help the Church and all mankind to experience a "spousal"
relationship to God, one which magnificently expresses the
fellowship which God wishes to establish with his creatures.
Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman!
Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood you
enrich the world's understanding and help to make human relations
more honest and authentic.
3. I know of course that simply saying thank you is not enough.
Unfortunately, we are heirs to a history which has conditioned us to
a remarkable extent. In every time and place, this conditioning has
been an obstacle to the progress of women. Women's dignity has often
been unacknowledged and their prerogatives misrepresented; they have
often been relegated to the margins of society and even reduced to
servitude. This has prevented women from truly being themselves and
it has resulted in a spiritual impoverishment of humanity. Certainly
it is no easy task to assign the blame for this, considering the
many kinds of cultural conditioning which down the centuries have
shaped ways of thinking and acting. And if objective blame,
especially in particular historical contexts, has belonged to not
just a few members of the Church, for this I am truly sorry. May
this regret be transformed, on the part of the whole Church, into a
renewed commitment of fidelity to the Gospel vision. When it comes
to setting women free from every kind of exploitation and
domination, the Gospel contains an ever relevant message which goes
back to the attitude of Jesus Christ himself. Transcending the
established norms of his own culture, Jesus treated women with
openness, respect, acceptance and tenderness. In this way he
honoured the dignity which women have always possessed according to
God's plan and in his love. As we look to Christ at the end of this
Second Millennium, it is natural to ask ourselves: how much of his
message has been heard and acted upon?
Yes, it is time to examine the past with courage, to assign
responsibility where it is due in a review of the long history of
humanity. Women have contributed to that history as much as men and,
more often than not, they did so in much more difficult conditions.
I think particularly of those women who loved culture and art, and
devoted their lives to them in spite of the fact that they were
frequently at a disadvantage from the start, excluded from equal
educational opportunities, underestimated, ignored and not given
credit for their intellectual contributions. Sadly, very little of
women's achievements in history can be registered by the science of
history. But even though time may have buried the documentary
evidence of those achievements, their beneficent influence can be
felt as a force which has shaped the lives of successive
generations, right up to our own. To this great, immense feminine
"tradition" humanity owes a debt which can never be repaid. Yet how
many women have been and continue to be valued more for their
physical appearance than for their skill, their professionalism,
their intellectual abilities, their deep sensitivity; in a word, the
very dignity of their being!
4. And what shall we say of the obstacles which in so many parts of
the world still keep women from being fully integrated into social,
political and economic life? We need only think of how the gift of
motherhood is often penalized rather than rewarded, even though
humanity owes its very survival to this gift. Certainly, much
remains to be done to prevent discrimination against those who have
chosen to be wives and mothers. As far as personal rights are
concerned, there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every
area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers,
fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to
family rights and the recognition of everything that is part of the
rights and duties of citizens in a democratic State.
This is a matter of justice but also of necessity. Women will
increasingly play a part in the solution of the serious problems of
the future: leisure time, the quality of life, migration, social
services, euthanasia, drugs, health care, the ecology, etc. In all
these areas a greater presence of women in society will prove most
valuable, for it will help to manifest the contradictions present
when society is organized solely according to the criteria of
efficiency and productivity, and it will force systems to be
redesigned in a way which favours the processes of humanization
which mark the "civilization of love".
5. Then too, when we look at one of the most sensitive aspects of
the situation of women in the world, how can we not mention the long
and degrading history, albeit often an "underground" history, of
violence against women in the area of sexuality? At the threshold of
the Third Millennium we cannot remain indifferent and resigned
before this phenomenon. The time has come to condemn vigorously the
types of sexual violence which frequently have women for their
object and to pass laws which effectively defend them from such
violence. Nor can we fail, in the name of the respect due to the
human person, to condemn the widespread hedonistic and commercial
culture which encourages the systematic exploitation of sexuality
and corrupts even very young girls into letting their bodies be used
for profit.
In contrast to these sorts of perversion, what great appreciation
must be shown to those women who, with a heroic love for the child
they have conceived, proceed with a pregnancy resulting from the
injustice of rape. Here we are thinking of atrocities perpetrated
not only in situations of war, still so common in the world, but
also in societies which are blessed by prosperity and peace and yet
are often corrupted by a culture of hedonistic permissiveness which
aggravates tendencies to aggressive male behaviour. In these cases
the choice to have an abortion always remains a grave sin. But
before being something to blame on the woman, it is a crime for
which guilt needs to be attributed to men and to the complicity of
the general social environment.
6. My word of thanks to women thus becomes a heartfelt appeal that
everyone, and in a special way States and international
institutions, should make every effort to ensure that women regain
full respect for their dignity and role. Here I cannot fail to
express my admiration for those women of good will who have devoted
their lives to defending the dignity of womanhood by fighting for
their basic social, economic and political rights, demonstrating
courageous initiative at a time when this was considered extremely
inappropriate, the sign of a lack of femininity, a manifestation of
exhibitionism, and even a sin!
In this year's World Day of Peace Message, I noted that when one
looks at the great process of women's liberation, "the journey has
been a difficult and complicated one and, at times, not without its
share of mistakes. But it has been substantially a positive one,
even if it is still unfinished, due to the many obstacles which, in
various parts of the world, still prevent women from being
acknowledged, respected, and appreciated in their own special
dignity" (No. 4).
This journey must go on! But I am convinced that the secret of
making speedy progress in achieving full respect for women and their
identity involves more than simply the condemnation of
discrimination and injustices, necessary though this may be. Such
respect must first and foremost be won through an effective and
intelligent campaign for the promotion of women, concentrating on
all areas of women's life and beginning with a universal recognition
of the dignity of women. Our ability to recognize this dignity, in
spite of historical conditioning, comes from the use of reason
itself, which is able to understand the law of God written in the
heart of every human being. More than anything else, the word of God
enables us to grasp clearly the ultimate anthropological basis of
the dignity of women, making it evident as a part of God's plan for
humanity.
7. Dear sisters, together let us reflect anew on the magnificent
passage in Scripture which describes the creation of the human race
and which has so much to say about your dignity and mission in the
world.
The Book of Genesis speaks of creation in summary fashion, in
language which is poetic and symbolic, yet profoundly true: "God
created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27). The creative act of God
takes place according to a precise plan. First of all, we are told
that the human being is created "in the image and likeness of God"
(cf. Gen 1:26). This expression immediately makes clear what is
distinct about the human being with regard to the rest of creation.
We are then told that, from the very beginning, man has been created
"male and female" (Gen 1:27). Scripture itself provides the
interpretation of this fact: even though man is surrounded by the
innumerable creatures of the created world, he realizes that he is
alone (cf. Gen 2:20). God intervenes in order to help him escape
from this situation of solitude: "It is not good that the man should
be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him" (Gen 2:18). The
creation of woman is thus marked from the outset by the principle of
help: a help which is not one-sided but mutual. Woman complements
man, just as man complements woman: men and women are complementary.
Womanhood expresses the "human" as much as manhood does, but in a
different and complementary way.
When the Book of Genesis speaks of "help", it is not referring
merely to acting, but also to being. Womanhood and manhood are
complementary not only from the physical and psychological points of
view, but also from the ontological. It is only through the duality
of the "masculine" and the "feminine" that the "human" finds full
realization.
8. After creating man male and female, God says to both: "Fill the
earth and subdue it" (Gen 1:28). Not only does he give them the
power to procreate as a means of perpetuating the human species
throughout time, he also gives them the earth, charging them with
the responsible use of its resources. As a rational and free being,
man is called to transform the face of the earth. In this task,
which is essentially that of culture, man and woman alike share
equal responsibility from the start. In their fruitful relationship
as husband and wife, in their common task of exercising dominion
over the earth, woman and man are marked neither by a static and
undifferentiated equality nor by an irreconcilable and inexorably
conflictual difference. Their most natural relationship, which
corresponds to the plan of God, is the "unity of the two", a
relational "uni-duality", which enables each to experience their
interpersonal and reciprocal relationship as a gift which enriches
and which confers responsibility.
To this "unity of the two" God has entrusted not only the work of
procreation and family life, but the creation of history itself.
While the 1994 International Year of the Family focused attention on
women as mothers, the Beijing Conference, which has as its theme
"Action for Equality, Development and Peace", provides an auspicious
occasion for heightening awareness of the many contributions made by
women to the life of whole societies and nations. This contribution
is primarily spiritual and cultural in nature, but socio-political
and economic as well. The various sectors of society, nations and
states, and the progress of all humanity, are certainly deeply
indebted to the contribution of women!
9. Progress usually tends to be measured according to the criteria
of science and technology. Nor from this point of view has the
contribution of women been negligible. Even so, this is not the only
measure of progress, nor in fact is it the principal one. Much more
important is the social and ethical dimension, which deals with
human relations and spiritual values. In this area, which often
develops in an inconspicuous way beginning with the daily
relationships between people, especially within the family, society
certainly owes much to the "genius of women".
Here I would like to express particular appreciation to those women
who are involved in the various areas of education extending well
beyond the family: nurseries, schools, universities, social service
agencies, parishes, associations and movements. Wherever the work of
education is called for, we can note that women are ever ready and
willing to give themselves generously to others, especially in
serving the weakest and most defenseless. In this work they exhibit
a kind of affective, cultural and spiritual motherhood which has
inestimable value for the development of individuals and the future
of society. At this point how can I fail to mention the witness of
so many Catholic women and Religious Congregations of women from
every continent who have made education, particularly the education
of boys and girls, their principal apostolate? How can I not think
with gratitude of all the women who have worked and continue to work
in the area of health care, not only in highly organized
institutions, but also in very precarious circumstances, in the
poorest countries of the world, thus demonstrating a spirit of
service which not infrequently borders on martyrdom?
10. It is thus my hope, dear sisters, that you will reflect
carefully on what it means to speak of the "genius of women", not
only in order to be able to see in this phrase a specific part of
God's plan which needs to be accepted and appreciated, but also in
order to let this genius be more fully expressed in the life of
society as a whole, as well as in the life of the Church. This
subject came up frequently during the Marian Year and I myself dwelt
on it at length in my Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem
(1988). In addition, this year in the Letter which I customarily
send to priests for Holy Thursday, I invited them to reread
Mulieris Dignitatem and reflect on the important roles which
women have played in their lives as mothers, sisters and co-workers
in the apostolate. This is another aspect-different from the
conjugal aspect, but also important-of that "help" which women,
according to the Book of Genesis, are called to give to men.
The Church sees in Mary the highest expression of the "feminine
genius" and she finds in her a source of constant inspiration. Mary
called herself the "handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38). Through
obedience to the Word of God she accepted her lofty yet not easy
vocation as wife and mother in the family of Nazareth. Putting
herself at God's service, she also put herself at the service of
others: a service of love. Precisely through this service Mary was
able to experience in her life a mysterious, but authentic "reign".
It is not by chance that she is invoked as "Queen of heaven and
earth". The entire community of believers thus invokes her; many
nations and peoples call upon her as their "Queen". For her, "to
reign" is to serve! Her service is "to reign"!
This is the way in which authority needs to be understood, both in
the family and in society and the Church. Each person's fundamental
vocation is revealed in this "reigning", for each person has been
created in the "image" of the One who is Lord of heaven and earth
and called to be his adopted son or daughter in Christ. Man is the
only creature on earth "which God willed for its own sake", as the
Second Vatican Council teaches; it significantly adds that man
"cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self" (Gaudium
et Spes, 24).
The maternal "reign" of Mary consists in this. She who was, in all
her being, a gift for her Son, has also become a gift for the sons
and daughters of the whole human race, awakening profound trust in
those who seek her guidance along the difficult paths of life on the
way to their definitive and transcendent destiny. Each one reaches
this final goal by fidelity to his or her own vocation; this goal
provides meaning and direction for the earthly labours of men and
women alike.
11. In this perspective of "service"-which, when it is carried out
with freedom, reciprocity and love, expresses the truly "royal"
nature of mankind-one can also appreciate that the presence of a
certain diversity of roles is in no way prejudicial to women,
provided that this diversity is not the result of an arbitrary
imposition, but is rather an expression of what is specific to being
male and female. This issue also has a particular application within
the Church. If Christ-by his free and sovereign choice, clearly
attested to by the Gospel and by the Church's constant
Tradition-entrusted only to men the task of being an "icon" of his
countenance as "shepherd" and "bridegroom" of the Church through the
exercise of the ministerial priesthood, this in no way detracts from
the role of women, or for that matter from the role of the other
members of the Church who are not ordained to the sacred ministry,
since all share equally in the dignity proper to the "common
priesthood" based on Baptism. These role distinctions should not be
viewed in accordance with the criteria of functionality typical in
human societies. Rather they must be understood according to the
particular criteria of the sacramental economy, i.e. the economy of
"signs" which God freely chooses in order to become present in the
midst of humanity.
Furthermore, precisely in line with this economy of signs, even if
apart from the sacramental sphere, there is great significance to
that "womanhood" which was lived in such a sublime way by Mary. In
fact, there is present in the "womanhood" of a woman who believes,
and especially in a woman who is "consecrated", a kind of inherent
"prophecy" (cf. Mulieris Dignitatem, 29), a powerfully evocative
symbolism, a highly significant "iconic character", which finds its
full realization in Mary and which also aptly expresses the very
essence of the Church as a community consecrated with the integrity
of a "virgin" heart to become the "bride" of Christ and "mother" of
believers. When we consider the "iconic" complementarity of male and
female roles, two of the Church's essential dimensions are seen in a
clearer light: the "Marian" principle and the Apostolic- Petrine
principle (cf. ibid., 27).
On the other hand-as I wrote to priests in this year's Holy Thursday
Letter-the ministerial priesthood, according to Christ's plan, "is
an expression not of domination but of service" (No. 7). The Church
urgently needs, in her daily self-renewal in the light of the Word
of God, to emphasize this fact ever more clearly, both by developing
the spirit of communion and by carefully fostering all those means
of participation which are properly hers, and also by showing
respect for and promoting the diverse personal and communal charisms
which the Spirit of God bestows for the building up of the Christian
community and the service of humanity.
In this vast domain of service, the Church's two-thousand-year
history, for all its historical conditioning, has truly experienced
the "genius of woman"; from the heart of the Church there have
emerged women of the highest calibre who have left an impressive and
beneficial mark in history. I think of the great line of woman
martyrs, saints and famous mystics. In a particular way I think of
Saint Catherine of Siena and of Saint Teresa of Avila, whom Pope
Paul VI of happy memory granted the title of Doctors of the Church.
And how can we overlook the many women, inspired by faith, who were
responsible for initiatives of extraordinary social importance,
especially in serving the poorest of the poor? The life of the
Church in the Third Millennium will certainly not be lacking in new
and surprising manifestations of "the feminine genius".
12. You can see then, dear sisters, that the Church has many reasons
for hoping that the forthcoming United Nations Conference in Beijing
will bring out the full truth about women. Necessary emphasis should
be placed on the "genius of women", not only by considering great
and famous women of the past or present, but also those ordinary
women who reveal the gift of their womanhood by placing themselves
at the service of others in their everyday lives. For in giving
themselves to others each day women fulfill their deepest vocation.
Perhaps more than men, women acknowledge the person, because they
see persons with their hearts. They see them independently of
various ideological or political systems. They see others in their
greatness and limitations; they try to go out to them and help them.
In this way the basic plan of the Creator takes flesh in the history
of humanity and there is constantly revealed, in the variety of
vocations, that beauty-not merely physical, but above all
spiritual-which God bestowed from the very beginning on all, and in
a particular way on women.
While I commend to the Lord in prayer the success of the important
meeting in Beijing, I invite Ecclesial Communities to make this year
an occasion of heartfelt thanksgiving to the Creator and Redeemer of
the world for the gift of this great treasure which is womanhood. In
all its expressions, womanhood is part of the essential heritage of
mankind and of the Church herself.
May Mary, Queen of Love, watch over women and their mission in
service of humanity, of peace, of the spread of God's Kingdom!
With my Blessing.
From the Vatican, 29 June 1995, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and
Paul.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
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