Sister Forcades: with Pope Francis in the Church "people who speak of the homosexual union as blessed by God have stopped being persecuted"

Article of Maddealena* Oliva published on Il Fatto Quotidiano on October 1, 2019, p.14

"I am a cloistered nun I speak of sex and politics." Teresa Forcades**, feminist theologian and "queer", cloistered nun "lent" to politics: it speaks of sex, women and challenges for Bergoglio

She returned to wear the veil of the cloistered nun, in her monastery of Sant Benet de Montserrat, not far from Barcelona where it was born 53 years ago. And so Sister Teresa Forcades - the "Revolutionary and Pacific", as she herself loves to define herself, feminist theologian and queer, a champion of the Catalan independence cause - concluded the "bad experience with political parties", has returned from her sisters, but has also started again to travel the world (it will be in Rome on 2 October for the review "Rethinking the community"), to continue to report " misogina ".

A few days ago the Pope said that, because of clericalism, "we focus on sex and then we don't give weight to social injustice".

It sounds like an excuse, an alibi. It is the same thing that the leaders of the movements said in the 60s-70: first we make the revolution, then we will deal with women's rights. Or homosexuals. It's a mistake. Ecclesiastical pedophilia is an important problem, as well as misogyny and homophobia: but it is also social injustice. In a different way, they are forms of violence that are held between them. It makes no sense to contrast them.

What does God ask for man in terms of sex?

Honesty with respect to one's experience. And he asks not to put the law above people.

She "heard" Jesus, while she was a medical student. What is the relationship with sex?

I think it is a gift from God, not aimed only at procreation. Physical intimacy in itself is not enough, but, when there is a sincere gift to the other, it allows a level of union that no other type of relationship allows. When two people love each other with commitment, sexual difference can not hinder this love. Love is always the sacrament of God, if the freedom of the other is respected.

Would a nun or a priest be entitled to be free to live their corporeality?

Yes, but for me freedom is not in contrast with commitment or loyalty. A nun or a priest cannot ignore this. Not even, however, to live it as an imposition. It depends on everyone's responsibility.

As a theologian, do you really believe that the Church requires a "queer revolution"?

Yes, I believe it, because I interpret the word queer in the light of the third chapter of the Gospel of John: we must be born again, not from the mother, but from the water and the spirit. Being queer means believing that our life has a radical originality: God hopes that we respect it, without following models or labels, nor of gender, nor anything else.

It has often been attacked for its positions on homosexual Love. is the Papacy of bergoglio taking steps forward?

He did not make changes to the ecclesial magisterium, but, in practice, yes. People who speak of the homosexual union as wanted and blessed by God have stopped being persecuted. I understood me.

She defines herself feminist.

Being feminist means being aware of discrimination that, if there is no law, is in fact, and working to overcome it. In Germany, the episcopal conference discusses of female priesthood, of abolition of celibacy, of greater freedom on sexual morality. It is my battle: the exclusion of women from the Synods and, more generally, from the places of power. I continue to fight against the patriarchate, inside and outside the church.

In the construction of a certain imaginary relating to the woman, some parties retain an active role.

Yes, but the question does not only concern the Rights. there are more women driving right -wing parties than left. although They do not say that the vocation of women is To "be wife mothers", many, right on the left, continue to assign women the care tasks.

Speaking of the left, she in 2015 came nominated with Podemos.

I had contributed to founding a movement for Catalan independence, "constituent process". Then we did not reach the agreement with Podemos. It seemed to me, with politics, that I could contribute to a better future for the democracy of my Catalonia. My place is the monastery not politics, but I was arranged - and I would be again - to use me exceptionally.

Did he ever think about her as a mother before becoming a cloistered nun?

Yes. As a teenager I wanted to have nine children.

What does faith mean?

Believing that I, you, the world we have a future that is not of death. It means believing that no love gesture is in vain. It means believing in forgiveness.

In these days in Italy there has been a tough clash on the "end of life". There are those who pushes to have a law on euthanasia, while a large Catholic front opposes.

Whether there is a law or not, it is reality, as always, to impose itself. When it comes to people and not things, the majority criterion serves little. For every person who freely decides to die, there are at least ten others who, being able to choose, will come to do so, pushed by circumstances that exist even if the law ignores them. What would you do if he had a certain age, he was sick, not particularly wealthy, and they had difficulty taking care of her?

*Translation of the article by C. Guarnieri and N. Forcano

*Teresa Forcades, is a Benedictine nun, former doctor, today theologian, founded in 2012 "constituent process" for Catalan independence. His latest book is "Faith and Freedom" is in Rome on 2 October at the macro for the meetings "Rethinking the community", a review organized by the publisher Castelvecchi and on the move, with macro asylum.