Pope’s hermeneutic of tenderness
Fr Larry Kaufmann CSsR, Johannesburg
Pope Benedict XVI is often remembered for and quoted on his “hermeneutic of continuity”, which is for him the interpretive key for any discussion on Vatican II. Hermeneutics is the art of interpretation.
“Time and again he refers to God’s tenderness and exhorts us all — even the most “macho” male — to the virtue of tenderness. “
The more I read and reflect on Pope Francis (such as his recent apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium), the more I believe that the key to interpreting him is through what I call his “hermeneutic of tenderness”.
Time and again he refers to God’s tenderness and exhorts us all — even the most “macho” male — to the virtue of tenderness.
Significantly I am writing this on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, where the Father’s voice is heard: “You are my Son, the Beloved. My favour rest on you.”
For Pope Francis this is the starting point of all our faith, our theology, our ministry, our canon law, our life as Christians.
Before you are “out of line” with the teaching of the Church, before you are disloyal, before you are a “traditionalist” or a “Vatican II” Catholic, before you are gay or divorced and remarried, you are beloved of God.
Imagine Pope Francis’ hermeneutic of tenderness becoming increasingly evident in the columns and letter pages of The Southern Cross!
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