Friday, October 2, 2015
Universal-Humanitarian Principles: Conversations between Kim Davis and the Pope
In a recent turn of events, Kim Davis met with Pope Francis in what is rumored to be a meeting of where he told her "stay strong." According to at the New York Times, now the Vatican is claiming that Pope Francis was not endorsing her actions. What are your thoughts on what meeting with her llustrated about the Pope's (and by impart the Vatican) ethics are given her situation?
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I feel that this issue illustrates a continuation of Pope Francis' actions thus far, I think it shows that he stands between Contextual communication ethics and Universal-humanitarian ethics. He has been speaking about exceptance and outreach which may give the appearance of being a progressive pontiff, which falls into the Universal-humanitarian ethics because he believes all people have a choice and will promote, as the book states, a duty or obligation of being part of the human community. (48) However the entire time he hasn't shown any intention to change the docturine that currently exists within the church, and this is where the Contextual communication ethics applies because it promotes the good of the particular variations across differing cultures, persons, and settings. (45)
ReplyDeleteThe pope may have told her to "stay strong" but just the utterance of these words doesn't mean that he endorses her actions. He can support conscience objection, as he said, "everyone has this right". Even if it is to object or oppose the beliefs and ethics that drive the vatican and that the pope himself endorses. However, he doesn't have to support the fact that she broke the law by standing against gay union. The support for one doesn't implicitly imply the support for the entirety of the situation He lives in the realm of church doctrine, and as Gov. Mark Huckabee tweeted, ".@Pontifex recognized something the DC/Wall Street chattering class will never understand-#KimDavis followed her conscience & convictions". This is also what the Pope himself did when taking time to meet with a longtime gay friend and his partner, the day before meeting with Kim Davis. He followed is conscience and convictions.
Under all the context of the whole situation, I think that it will be interesting to see if this sparks more demand for clear communication from the Pope and the Vatican about exactly where they stand.