Post-Colonial Moment: The New Pope
(Post-Colonial Moment is a new feature that asks random, unbiased questions and thoughts about current events as it relates to the Global South and Postcolonial theory. And I hope you will comment on!)
1. Is the Global South as conservative on social issues as many believe?
2. Why do Catholics in America and Europe assume that the new Pope is suppose to be "moderate" as if the Vatican only cares about the viewpoint in the West and not the rest of the world?
3. Why do Western journalists and opponents of Benedict XVI think that all those in the Global South who might be perceive as traditionalists or conservatives are "unenlighten" or backwards? Just because most people surveyed in the Global South don't support things like family planning and homosexuality, are they out of touch?
4. Since the future of the Catholic Church is truly in the Global South, was the selection of a white pope a diss to that part of the world? Could this be seen as "religious colonialism" because a black or brown pope wasn't selected?
posted by Global Wire @ Friday, April 22, 2005
2 comments
2 Comments:
I guess you can say that it is religious colonialism because the pope is white and most of the faithful these days are brown and black people.
I think it is also interesting that this new Pope has no regard for other religions. He has already objected to Turkey becoming a member of the EU because he believes Europe should stay Christian.
Talia, I am so glad you brought this up. Despite the fact that I do wish there was more progress to modernize the church on social issues, I really hate when the pundits see this as another opportunity to bash people in the Third World for not being what Dan Kennedy describes as enlightened or uneducated. Okay, so you're never going to see a gay pride parade in Nigeria or anywhere else in latin america or elsewhere anytime, but is that a reason to be seen as backwards?
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