Sexual complementarity – Pope Francis, sex and gender

To suggest that the sexes are complementary is to imply that someone of either sex is not, alone, a complete person.

According to the theology of the body, women’s qualities of “feminine genius” and maternal wisdom offer a necessary complement to men’s gifts.
Paul Haring/CNS

The idea that biological differences show that God intends different roles and purposes for the sexes is a novel idea with little support in Catholic history and tradition.

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User Comments (1)

Comment by: JohnCPW

Posted: 16/12/2022 10:27:35

Within the Church all the disciplines - Theology, anthropology, philosophy - seem to be trapped in a way of thinking that hasn't yet caught up with what we now know about how evolution works. Gender has no predefined teleological "purpose". It just happens to be the most successful way of regenerating and evolving for complex organisms. The fact that males and females have different roles in procreation has no relevance to what else they should or shouldn't do. Complementarity is just another manifestation of the problem.