Home Page Commentary 2 February 2001 (Divorce and the Pope)

Comment of the Fortnight
2 February 2001
Divorce and the Pope

In the paper today, I read that the Pope says that a marriage can exist only between a man and a woman and is indissoluble even if it causes “pain and suffering.”

I won't comment on the man/woman part of the statement; that's been discussed to death. However, on the second part, I have to say that the Pope is way off base. Presume a marriage gone bad, where the husband gets drunk every night and beats his wife at least once a week. The news story says that the Pope compared suffering in unhappy marriages to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Well, Holy Father, Jesus' suffering lasted only three days, but the situation describe above could last three years or thirty. Your God of love and compassion says that that marriage cannot be dissolved? That the wife should just “close her eyes and think of Jesus” as the emergency room personnel put in stitches yet another time? And if the husband finally does kill the wife, that's OK, because, after all, they stayed together 'til death did them part? No, as far as I'm concerned, the Pope is 100% wrong on this one.

Miscellanea

• The article that I wrote about FOP was published in two parts at xml.com. Read part one or part two.
• I put up an extensive version of my travelogue from my trip to Seoul in 1999.
• I am seriously considering bringing Comment of the Fortnight to a close; it's been fun, but I haven't had my heart in it for some time now.

Let me know what you think.