Citation

Cherry MJ. Christ. Bioeth. 2015; 21(1): 84-88.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Journal of Christian Bioethics, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/cb/cbu045

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Pope Francis has emerged as a popular, progressive, and potentially transformative figure for Roman Catholicism. However, he has been careful to avoid firm doctrinal accounts of Roman Catholicism's traditional positions on bioethics. Condemnations of abortion, the destruction of human embryos, artificial insemination, assisted suicide, euthanasia, homosexual acts, and so forth have been relocated within a pastoral discourse. Many of Francis' public statements on bioethics, especially as developed in Evangelii Gaudium, appear to adopt a weak postmodern position; that is, a position that avoids directly underscoring an objectively true moral-theological position. Such a "weak theology" does not require Roman Catholicism to confront secular bioethics directly, much less to convert the world to Christ. This short paper outlines the dramatic change in framing context that Pope Francis proposes for Roman Catholic theology, which will also subtly but substantially change the character of Roman Catholic bioethical concerns. © The Author 2015.

Language: en

Keywords

Pope Francis; Roman catholic bioethics; Weak theology