Home // July 26-30 2010 > Pope's children's book ignores women, says advocacy group

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Pope's children's book ignores women, says advocacy group

Published: July 29, 2010

British advocacy group We Are Church claims Pope Benedict highlighted only male disciples his new children's book, The Friends of Jesus, saying it implied women are second-class citizens in the Christian religion.

Pope Benedict XVI is described by the Vatican Information Service as the author of the 48-page book about Jesus's 14 friends who are listed as Peter, his brother Andrew, James the older, John, Thomas, Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, James the younger, Simon, Judas Thaddeus, Judas Iscariot, Matthias and Paul, according to a report by The Times, published in The Australian.

No mention was made of Mary Magdalene or any other female friends of Jesus, the report said.

Valerie Stroud of the British Catholic organisation We Are Church, a support group for Catholics, said: "In giving children the idea that Jesus only favoured men, Pope Benedict sends a very strong message that women are second-class citizens in the Christian religion.

"This was never Jesus's intention. The Supreme Pontiff completely abandons the modern idea of equality within relationships."

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the book was put together by an editor but admitted that the Pope had sanctioned the use of his name on the cover. "The Pope has done explicitly a catechism about the many women in the service of the Gospel who were disciples of Jesus and helped him in his life," he said.

FULL STORY

Pope's book on Jesus 'edited out' women (The Australian/The Times)

 

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Recent Comments

  1. It seems to me that 'We are church' is always waiting to take offense and pounce on the Pope.
    Their main beef is that we don't ordain women. They didn't care for JPII either.
    In this instance the Holy Father doesn't mention the Blessed Virgin either; so now he hates Mothers?
    The women Disciples fulfilled a different function in Jesus' ministry from the men.
    The Apostles were being prepared for Ordination and traveling with the Message; the women for maintaining Christian households, providing meeting spaces, and maintaining Home Base, as well as teaching the Faith to their households. That's how the culture was in those days.

    Posted By: Stan Harris Sun Valley California

  2. Does the Vatican have totally no idea of public relations, or is the intention more sinister?

    Posted By: Jim W, Concord NSW

  3. Another signal of Pope Benedict's contempt for Western cultures in which women do have significance and prominence.
    Pope Benedict and the current ideologues appointed to control the Church have their eye only for women who conform to the narrow models set for them by patriarchy, and for patriarchal cultures more compliant with the authoritarian model, ones in which women are defined as inferior, or simply do not feature at all.
    The Gospels clearly show a range of women as friends and as narrative vehicles. It was women who first proclaimed the risen jesus.

    Posted By: MJ, Camperdown. NSW.

  4. I am very sympathetic to women's place in our church, but such comments put me off. Surely the Pope was writing about the apostles with Paul as an extra! 'I no longer call you servants but Friends'. Jn 15:15

    Posted By: Brian A Auckland NZ

  5. I have my own views on the omission of Mary Magdaline.
    Accused of adultery and Christ confronting them, the accusers (the high priests) saw each of their names written in the sand, reminding them of their duty of care, causing them to walk off one by one and head for the hills.
    Good. Nothing's changed.

    Posted By: L Newington

  6. It just reflects the experience of an 82 year old man.

    Posted By: David. Milton.

  7. L Newington: I don't think that story referred to Mary Magdalene. The woman is not given a name.
    And what Jesus was writing in the dust definitely wasn't a reminder of duty of care. It was quite something else.

    Posted By: Lance Eccles, Goulburn NSW

  8. I think the book was about the Twelve Apostles and Paul, always acknowledged as an Apostle.
    It's a pity the author used the word 'friends' - it does give the impression that Jesus' only friends were his apostles. The scriptures clearly don't support such and idea, and I don't think the Pope consciously does either.
    I don't think a careful reading of the Gospels would support a picture of the women in Jesus' life all being at home maintaining the base, either, Stan Harris!
    Think of Jesus' mother, rushing off into the hill country of Judea to bring the good news! Certainly the Queen of Apostles! Luke mentions the women who travelled with Jesus and his male friends. And that's just the beginning!

    Posted By: Joan Seymour Albion, Vic.

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