Updated: 10:30am (AEST)
Aboard the papal plane
Reuters
Pope Francis said on Sunday the fight for women’s rights was a “continuous struggle”, and condemned male chauvinism as deadly for humanity and female genital mutilation as a crime that must be stopped.
Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from a four-day trip to predominantly Muslim Bahrain, he also praised women he has appointed to managerial jobs in the Vatican, saying they had improved things there.
He made no mention of campaigns to let women move on beyond that and become clergy – the Pope and his predecessors have said the question of women priests is closed.
Pope Francis answers reporters’ questions during his flight back to Rome, after his apostolic journey to Bahrain, on 6th November. PICTURE: Maurizio Brambatti/Pool via Reuters
Francis was responding to a question about women protesting in Iran but turned to the topic of women’s rights in general.
“We have to tell the truth. The struggle for women’s rights is a continuing struggle,” he said, listing historic struggles such as the fight for the right to vote.
POPE APPEALS FOR LEBANON LEADERS TO PUT INTERESTS ASIDE
Pope Francis appealed Sunday for Lebanon’s politicians to put their personal interests aside and agree on a path to help the country emerge from years of economic meltdown and a new political vacuum.
“Lebanon now is suffering,” Francis said when asked en route home from Bahrain if he might visit the country, which he had been considering earlier this year but had to postpone.
Francis didn’t respond directly but said he was greatly “pained” by the country’s descent into chaos and begged for prayers and for the international community to help Lebanon.
“I take this opportunity to appeal to Lebanese politicians to put your personal interests aside and speak about the country and come to an agreement,” he said. “First God, then country, then personal interests.”
Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s term ended at the end of October without a replacement, leaving Lebanon in a political vacuum that is likely to worsen its historic economic crisis.
Many fear that an extended delay in choosing a successor could further delay attempts to finalize a deal with the International Monetary Fund that would provide Lebanon with $US3 billion in assistance, widely seen as a key step to help the country climb out of a three-year financial crisis that has left three quarters of the population in poverty.
– AP
“We have to continue struggling for this because women are a gift. God did not create man and then give him a lapdog to play with. He created both equal, man and woman,” he said.
“A society that is not capable of [allowing women to have greater roles] does not move forward,” he added.
Francis denounced male chauvinism, acknowledging there was still too much of it around the world, including in his native Argentina. “This chauvinism kills humanity,” he said.
He also condemned as a “criminal act” female genital mutilation, repeating a major call he made in February on the UN International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.
According to the United Nations, FGM is concentrated in about 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East but is also practiced by immigrant populations elsewhere. More than four million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM this year, the UN says.
He spoke of women he has appointed to managerial roles in the Vatican, mentioning by name Sister Raffaella Petrini, a nun who as the deputy governor of Vatican City is effectively the most powerful woman there.
“I have noticed that every time a woman is given a position [of responsibility] in the Vatican, things improve,” he said.
He also cited the impact of five women he appointed to a department that oversees Vatican finances.
“This is a revolution [in the Vatican] because women know how the find the right way to go forward,” he said.
Francis also has appointed women as deputy foreign minister, director of the Vatican Museums, deputy head of the Vatican Press Office, as well as four women as councillors to the Synod of Bishops, which prepares major meetings.
The church teaches that only men can become priests because Jesus chose men as his apostles.
In other comments made on the plane, Pope Francis said European Union member states should share responsibility for taking in migrants and not just leave it to the countries where people arrive.
He spoke as migration triggered fresh political tensions in Italy, where there has been a stand-off between the government and charity ships trying to disembark migrants.
“The European Union has to take up a policy of collaboration and help. It can’t leave Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain with the responsibility of all the migrants that arrive on their shores,” he told reporters on the plane.
“Each government of the European Union should agree on how many migrants it can take,” Francis said.
“Migration policy has to be agreed upon by all countries. There can’t be a policy without consensus,” he said.
Matteo Salvini, head of Italy’s anti-immigrant League party and Deputy Prime Minister in the new right-wing government, thanked the Pope for his “words of great wisdom”.
“Italy can not be left alone and cannot take in everyone,” Salvini added in a statement.
