Pope Pius XI issued Casti Connubii, his encyclical on Christian marriage, in 1930. Pope John Paul II issued Familiaris Consortio, his apostolic exhortation on the Christian family, in 1981. These documents are parallel in many of the issues they raise, because of the similarity of their topics. Thus, within the context of considerations on the family, both of these documents deal to some degree with the question of the role of the woman in the family. Still, these writings reflect the thoughts of two different Popes, teaching in two very different times, despite the relatively small number of years actually separating them. The cultural difference between their times seems especially obvious on this specific issue of the role of women. It is not surprising, therefore, that certain nuances of difference can be found in comparing the writings of Pius XI and John Paul II on this topic. However, as will be seen, a comparison of these writings not only yields what would appear to be slight nuances of difference, but also reveals what must be admitted to appear as significant contrasts, if not contradictions, between the positions of Pius XI and John Paul II.

Casti Connubii and Familiaris Consortio explicitly agree on some of the more basic points concerning women. First of all, both affirm the full human dignity of women. Pius XI speaks of the woman having "her dignity as a human person" and "the dignity of the human soul."[1] Beyond this, though, it must be admitted that Pius XI does not refer to this point very much. Presumably it is meant to be taken for granted by the reader, for it is not explicitly stated often within the encyclical. John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio stresses the same point as Pius XI when he writes, referring to the dignity of women: "What human reason intuitively perceives and acknowledges is fully revealed by the word of God: the history of salvation, in fact, is a continuous and luminous testimony of the dignity of women."[2] The Pope goes on to link this to Mary, and the life of Jesus, saying:

God . . . manifests the dignity of woman in the highest form possible, by assuming human flesh from the Virgin Mary, whom the Church honors as the Mother of God, calling her the new Eve and presenting her as the model of redeemed woman. The sensitive respect of Jesus towards the women that He called to His fellowship and His friendship, His appearing on Easter morning to a woman before the other disciples, the mission entrusted to women to carry the good news of the Resurrection to the apostles--these are all signs that confirm the special esteem of the Lord Jesus for women.[3]

It seems evident that John Paul II is more emphatic than Pius XI on this matter of the dignity of women. However, this may be recognized as fundamentally a difference in emphasis at this point. Pius XI certainly does not deny the full dignity of women, and although he does not discuss it at the length that John Paul II does, neither does he discuss the dignity of men deeply. John Paul II's greater concern with this topic can be seen as no more than a result of the change in times between the two Popes.

While it may be said that both Pius XI and John Paul II support the dignity of women in themselves, the similarities between their writings do not extend much further than that on this issue. On the fundamental question of the equality of husbands and wives in marriage, there is a sharp contrast. Pius XI, while it can be assumed that he considers women equal with men, since he obviously regards them as fully human, does not stress this equality much. In fact, it is barely mentioned, if at all. Familiaris Consortio takes almost the exact opposite course, concentrating heavily on this fundamental equality of men and women, and stating it as a foundational principle for any discussion of women: "Above all it is important to underline the equal dignity and responsibility of women with men."[4] Furthermore, far from the relationship in marriage changing this equality in any way, the equality of man and woman is seen as being especially shown in marriage, in that "this equality is realized in a unique manner in that reciprocal self-giving by each one to the other and by both to the children which is proper to marriage and the family." [5] Once again, this is not a statement that Pius XI denies, and a belief in the basic equality of men and women is present in Casti Connubii. However, he does not use the same language of equality that John Paul II does, and there is clearly a stronger emphasis on the basic equality of men and women in Familiaris Consortio. Nevertheless, this is again a difference in emphasis, which may be explained in terms of differing conditions and aims.

Related to the question of the ontological equality, so to speak, between men and women or husbands and wives, but still somewhat distinct from that question, is the question of what might be called their practical equality. In other words, are husbands and wives equal in the practical spheres of such things as authority and rights. Casti Connubii devotes a great deal of attention to this issue. Pius XI emphasizes again and again the inequality of husbands and wives in this area. He says that the order of love in the family "includes both the primacy of the husband with regard to the wife . . . the ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience, which the Apostle commends in these words: 'Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church.'"[6] He quotes Leo XIII to say that "The man is the ruler of the family, and the head of the woman."[7] He refers to as false a number of positions on this issue, including the positions "that the rights of the husband and wife are equal," and that "the woman may even without the knowledge and against the wish of her husband may be at liberty to administer her own affairs."[8] He writes further that "this false liberty and unnatural equality with the husband is to the detriment of the woman herself . . . there must be a certain inequality."[9]

The preceding summary of the treatment of the equality or inequality of husbands and wives in Casti Connubii is to some degree unbalanced, since there are qualifying statements attached to some of these passages in the encyclical, which will be dealt with more specifically later. For the moment, though, the purpose is to show that there can be no possible doubt that the subjection and obedience of the wife to the husband is a major part of the thought of Pius XI on Christian marriage. This is important here because Familiaris Consortio shows no such interest in this aspect of marriage. In fact, it is not mentioned at all. The few passages which would be considered most relevant to this issue, while not contradictory to Casti Connubii, do not share its line of emphasis: "Authentic conjugal love presupposes and requires that a man have a profound respect for the equal dignity of his wife: 'You are not her master,' writes St. Ambrose, 'but her husband; she was not given to you to be your slave, but your wife . . . . Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to her for her love.'"[10] Furthermore, John Paul II writes that "with due respect for the different vocations of men and women, the Church must in her own life promote as far as possible their equality of rights and dignity, and this for the good of all, the family, the Church, and society."[11] This radical difference is a little startling, considering the similar subject matter of the two documents. Perhaps it is possible to identify this as a difference in emphasis as well. Certainly, the fact that something is not stated explicitly does not mean that it is not believed. However, whereas in the previous differences in emphasis mentioned, one could at least gather that Pius XI held a substantially identical or similar position to that of John Paul II, but without stressing it as much, in this case John Paul II passes over entirely in Familiaris Consortio something that was a major theme for Pius XI. Furthermore, he speaks in an unqualified way of the equal rights of women with men, which is an idea that seems to be excluded in Pius XI. Whatever interpretation one wishes to give to this, it does not seem like a point that can be easily dismissed as insignificant.

Before proceeding too far in considering this contrast, the qualifiers that Pius XI puts on his teaching should be mentioned. He does not, of course, see this subjection and obedience as the kind that would be identified with a servant or a slave, and he makes this quite explicit. He limits the obedience required of the wife to those things which are "in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife."[12] Furthermore, he does not base this requirement of obedience on any lack of ability in the wife, because it does not "imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons . . . to whom it is not customary to allow free exercise of their rights on account of their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of human affairs."[13] The quote of Leo XIII mentioned earlier also specifies that the wife should be obedient "not as a servant but as a companion, so that nothing be lacking of honor or of dignity in the obedience which she pays."[14] Thus, as has been said and as should already be clear, Pius XI is not in disagreement with the insistence of John Paul II, following Saint Ambrose, that the husband is not to be understood as the master of the wife. Still, these modifying statements provided by Pius XI do not seem sufficient to bridge the gap between the general statements of Casti Connubii and the comparatively deafening silence of Familiaris Consortio on this matter. Indeed, no amount of modifying statements could bridge this gap, because it is the whole position of the inequality of husband and wife that is not found in Familiaris Consortio, not just certain aspects of the position. Moreover, what would seem to be the clearest contrast between the two documents on these points has not yet been considered, namely the role of the wife and mother in public life.

Pius XI, in discussing false ideas of the criticism of women, criticizes an idea of "social" emancipation, by which "the wife being freed from the cares of children and family, should, to the neglect of these, be able to follow her own bent and devote herself to business and even public affairs."[15] This seems reasonably straightforward, and he is very definite in describing this and other similar ideas: "This, however, is not the true emancipation of woman, nor that rational and exalted liberty which belongs to the noble office of a Christian woman and wife; it is rather the debasing of the womanly character and the dignity of motherhood."[16] Obviously, Pius XI feels strongly on this point, and does not consider there to be much room for any such position as he describes. However, in Familiaris Consortio, one finds a position that appears surprisingly similar to the one criticized here in Casti Connubii, as well as what would seem to be a criticism of the contrary position held in Casti Connubii:

In the specific area of family life a widespread social and cultural tradition has considered women's role to be exclusively that of wife and mother, without adequate access to public functions, which have generally been reserved for men. There is no doubt that the equal dignity and responsibility of men and women fully justifies women's access to public functions. On the other hand the true advancement of women requires that clear recognition be given to the value of their maternal and family role, by comparison with all other public roles and all other professions.[17]

Here, certainly, there is a less than perfect compatibility between the two documents. It is true that both stress the primacy of family obligations, but the understanding of this seems to have shifted from a more exclusive primacy for Pius XI, to a far less exclusive one for John Paul II. In fact, the first part of this passage from Familiaris Consortio, referring to a position that John Paul II seems to think is erroneous, is not altogether far from a close paraphrase of the position of Casti Connubii. Since Pius XI only clearly criticizes public involvement insofar as it interferes with family obligations, these statements are technically not directly contradictory in the logical sense. Practically speaking, however, it does not seem to be pushing the difference too far to say that the two men making such statements would probably not agree on the issue in question, and this is the sharpest of all the differences that have been shown between Casti Connubii and Familiaris Consortio.

The contrasts between Casti Connubii and Familiaris Consortio on the role of women in the family seem to indicate at least a change in times and circumstances. However, important as this is, it is not the most interesting point here, since extraordinary changes in the conditions between 1930 and 1981 are probably obvious to most people without any study of papal documents. What is more significant is that it seems necessary at least to acknowledge the possibility that a deeper change has taken place. The dramatic extent of the differences in emphasis on the equality of women, particularly in the family, and the points that are almost, if not actually, contradictory, lead one to wonder whether in fact there has been a real development in papal teaching on the role of women in the family and the equality of the relationship between husband and wife. It may very well be that the language of Pius XI referring to the status of the wife as one of subjection, of unequal rights, and of being ruled, on which he bases many of his points on this issue, is not appropriate to our present time. Pius XI himself acknowledges that there can be some changes in these matters.[18] It may even be possible that this was never the best way in which these matters can be explained. In this sense, Familiaris Consortio can perhaps be seen as updating, or even improving, Casti Connubii. Having made that point, it must nevertheless be pointed out that this area is not entirely open to a complete and total change.

As Pius XI shows, the ultimate basis for some kind of mysterious order in the family is not his teaching, but that of Scripture. In a number of passages in the New Testament, but most clearly in Ephesians 5, which Pius XI quotes, an ordering is given in the family which certainly seems on the surface to include some type of subordination of the wife to the husband.[19] This ordering, since God is the author of marriage and determines its nature, must be taken as normative for Christians. Certainly, the interpretation that Pius XI gives to this theme in Scripture is not defined dogma, or anything approaching that level. If John Paul II wished to indicate a somewhat different path in his teaching on the family, as seems likely from his clearly different approach, few would deny the legitimacy of such an effort, or its additional relevance for today, or the possibility that it represented a positive development over the ideas presented in Casti Connubii. However, in Familiaris Consortio, which would seem to be the most appropriate place to deal with this question of the order of the family. John Paul II does not explicitly offer an alternative approach to this point in Scripture. One is left , as was just said, to assume that he would probably have a different viewpoint than that of Pius XI. However, this is not an issue that can safely be ignored, and Familiaris Consortio does not treat of it. In this sense, then, while in many ways Familiaris Consortio may deepen the understanding of the family given in Casti Connubii, it does not seem unfair to say that Casti Connubii also serves as a complement on this topic to Familiaris Consortio, by mentioning this aspect of the order of the family given in Scripture, within the context of which both papal teachings should be understood.

Bibliography

John Paul II, Pope. Familiaris Consortio: The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World. Translated by Vatican Polyglot Press. Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1981.

Pius XI, Pope. Casti Connubii: On Christian Marriage. Translated by Vatican Polyglot Press. Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1930.

Notes

[1] Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii: On Christian Marriage, trans. Vatican Polyglot Press (Boston: St. Paul Editions, 1930), 15, 38.

[2] Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio: The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World, trans. Vatican Polyglot Press (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1981), 39.

[3] Familiaris Consortio, 39.

[4] Ibid., 39.

[5] Ibid., 39.

[6] Casti Connubii, 15; Ephesians 5:22-23.

[7] Casti Connubii, 16.

[8] Ibid., 38.

[9] Ibid., 38.

[10] Familiaris Consortio, 42.

[11] Ibid., 41.

[12] Casti Connubii, 15.

[13] Ibid., 15.

[14] Ibid., 16.

[15] Ibid., 37-38.

[16] Ibid., 38.

[17] Familiaris Consortio, 39-40.

[18] Casti Connubii, 16, 38-39.

[19] Ibid., 15.