Lost in interpretation

It is really so unfortunate that media personalities, particularly a highly esteemed journalist, is using the document “Evangelii Gaudium” (Joy of the Gospel) issued by Pope Francis to attack “what has largely become of the Catholic Church today.” Just because the Pope allegedly said that “there are rules and customs (of the Church) that are no longer widely understood or effective for evangelizing,” it is already insinuated that he is attacking the totality of the people of God, or Church itself, for supposedly “building a wall of hypocrisy separating the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.”

This is indeed so unfortunate because the document itself shows that the Pope uses “simple, familiar and direct language” which is “clear, immediate, free from rhetoric and insinuations.” But apparently he is still quoted out of context to drive a deep wedge between him and the Catholic Church of which he is the Supreme Pontiff, the successor of St. Peter, the first Pope appointed by Jesus Christ Himself.

More sad here is that in interpreting “Evangelii Gaudium (EG), the comments and interpretations of other sources are even cited, specifically the CNN which is openly supporting population control through contraception and abortion, and “the Guardian” which is focusing on the “Church’s rich trappings and vast wealth” as one of the causes of “economic inequality”. It is even presumptuously claimed that, with the Pope’s issuance of the EG, the “rich Catholics and clergy will be rattled” while “our perfumed and manicured elite who consider themselves devout Catholics proud of their Opus Dei memberships will be shaking their heads in disbelief”.

Apparently there is an attempt here to show that the Pope is calling for a “new kind of Catholicism” that may be leaning in favor birth control through contraception to solve our poverty problem as provided for in the RH law. Even the Pope’s previous statement about the Catholic Church’s alleged negative obsession with gays and birth control” has again surfaced in this review of the EG. The Catholic Church in the Philippines which has been staunchly opposing the RH law was again criticized due to “certain structures and the occasionally unwelcoming atmosphere of some of our parishes and communities, or to a bureaucratic way of dealing with problems in the lives of our people”.

But in the presentation of the EG made by the heads of Pontifical Councils for New Evangelization and Social Communications and the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, all these negative comments and interpretations about the Catholic Church are never mentioned. In fact, in one of the seven fundamental pillars of Pope Francis’ vision set forth in the EG, which is the “social inclusion of the poor”, he mainly attacked “the existing financial system that fuels the unequal distribution of wealth and violence as the cause of poverty. He took note of the negative impact of the present economic system as he singled out “capitalism” as the new tyranny”.

So, as a solution to our poverty problem the Pope is calling for a change in the present trickle-down economics where “the masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized, without work, without possibilities and without means of escape” There is no insinuation at all that he may be leaning in favor of birth control through contraception to solve our poverty problem as provided in the RH law. In other words the Pope is really against the RH law, because the Church has never changed its position on abortion which is one of the consequences of said law.

To be sure, the Evangelii Gaudium is actually an Apostolic Exhortation to guide the Church on her pastoral mission of evangelization or spreading the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. It is the outcome of the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the “New Evangelization for the Transmission of Christian Faith.” It was submitted to and reviewed by Pope Francis who subsequently made it “his own joyful presentation of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in simple, familiar and direct language, free from rhetoric and insinuations.

In his exhortation, the Pope pointed out that “evangelization is always participatory, shared and never isolated; it is the tasked of the entire people of God, without exception. It is not nor could it be reserved or delegated to any particular group.” The main change advocated by Pope Francis is in the missionary style “which is not obsessed with the disjointed transmission of a multitude of doctrines to be instantly imposed. He is reminding all of us to constantly seek ways of expressing unchanging truths in a language which brings out their abiding newness.”

The EG is contained in a 217-page document in 5 chapters where Pope Francis gave the seven-point fundamental pillars of his vision particularly on: the return of the Church in a missionary key; the temptation of pastoral agents; the Church understood as the totality of the People of God which evangelizes; the homily and its preparation; the social inclusion of the poor, peace and social dialogue; the spiritual motivation of the Church’s missionary actions; and the ecclesial structures which can jeopardize the dynamics of evangelization.

On the social inclusion of the poor, the Pope pointed out that “the Church feels it is her mission to contribute to the resolution of the instrumental causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as simple and daily gestures of solidarity in the face of many concrete situations of needs.”

The Pope also mentioned certain risk like some questions regarding the Church moral teachings taken out of context which give them meaning, or at times, that the message seems to focus on secondary questions which do not reveal the authentic heart of the message of Jesus Christ.

In gist this is the content of the EG as presented by the Pontifical Councils and the Synod of Bishops. It should not be taken out of context.

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