Vatican City, 22 April 2015 (VIS) –
Pope Francis dedicated his catechesis at today's Wednesday general
audience to the second chapter of Genesis, in which we read that God
created man as the culmination of all Creation and placed him in a
beautiful garden so that he could cultivate it. “The Holy Spirit,
who inspires all the Bible, suggests for a moment the image of man
alone, without woman”, said the Pontiff. “And it suggests the
thought of God, almost the sentiments of God as He watches him, as He
observes Adam alone in the garden: he is free, he is the master, but
… he is alone. And God sees that this is not good; it is a lack of
communion, a lack of fullness. 'It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him a helper fit for him'”.
When after presenting all the other
creatures, God finally presents woman to Adam, “the man joyfully
recognises that creature, and only her, to be part of him: 'bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh'. Finally there is reflection,
reciprocity. The woman is not a replica of man; she comes directly
from God's gesture of creation. Indeed, the image of the 'rib' does
not imply inferiority or subordination, but on the contrary, that man
and woman are of the same substance and are complementary. And the
fact that, again in the parable, God forms woman while man is
sleeping, underlines that she is in no way a creation of man, but of
God”.
God's trust in man and woman, to whom
He entrusts the earth, is generous, direct and full. “He trusts
them. But here there is the evil one who introduces suspicion,
incredulity and distrust into their minds. And finally, they arrive
at the point of disobeying the commandment that protects them. They
give in to the delirium of omnipotence that contaminates everything
and destroys harmony”.
“Sin generates diffidence and
division between man and woman. Their relationship is undermined by a
thousand forms of abuse and subjection, of deceptive seduction and
humiliating arrogance, including the most tragic and violent. History
bears their traces. Let us think, for instance, of the negative
excesses of patriarchal culture. Think of the exploitation and
commodification of the female body in the media in contemporary
culture. But let us also think of the recent epidemic of distrust,
scepticism and even hostility that is spreading in our culture –
starting in particular from a comprehensible diffidence on the part
of women – with regard to the alliance between man and woman that
is able, at the same time, to refine the intimacy of communion and
safeguard the dignity of difference”.
“If we do not find a wave of sympathy
for this alliance, able to protect new generations from distrust and
indifference, the children who come into the world will be
increasingly rooted in it”, warned the bishop of Rome. “The
social devaluation of the stable and generative alliance of man and
woman is certainly a loss for all. We must restore honour to marriage
and the family”.
“The stewardship of this alliance of
man and woman, even if they are sinners and wounded, confused and
humiliated, distrustful and uncertain, is therefore for us as
believers a demanding and exciting vocation. The account of creation
and sin, at the end, offers us a beautiful image: 'And the Lord God
made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them'.
It is an image of tenderness towards the couple, sinners as they
were, that leaves us speechless. It is an image of the paternal
protection of the human couple. God Himself cares for and protects
His finest creation”, concluded the Pope.
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