Francis and ''Gender Ideology'': Heritage, Displacement and Continuities

Abstract

Gender ideology circulates as a conceptual apparatus to defend a morality and an identity beyond Catholicism, which permits several alliances with other sectors (religious and non-religious), since this ideology threatens the very cultural substrate upon which the social order is based. The political machinery built by the most conservative sectors within the Catholic arena has radicalized the resistance to sexual and reproductive rights since these are deemed as threats not only to a moral order but also to a social and cultural order. The resignation ofBenedict XVI, a key man in the construction of such machinery (first as prefect and then as Pope), together with the ?sexual scandals? which intensified during his papacy, generated questions about the future of the Catholic Church. Bergoglio?s assumption of power as Francis I has as one of its main challenges (and conundrums) the Vatican?s rigid positioning on sexual morality (far from believers themselves) and on sexual politics, constructed by his predecessors. This inheritance, at a moment of institutional crisis, opens a window of opportunity to disarm if not sexual morality itself, at least the political rigidity with which such morality is defended. The main purpose of this article is to considers both displacements and continuities of Francis I in relation the previous two Popes, taking into account the use of gender ideology as a political strategy.