Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 257

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Today's Topics:

   1. Read: "Pope Leo Chooses Social Justice Over Pelvic Theology"
      (Vivek Pinto)
   2. Read: "'I?m sure he (Modi) heard me... unless he has some
      health issues': Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen"
      (Vivek Pinto)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 25 May 2026 12:01:57 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "Pope Leo Chooses Social Justice Over Pelvic
	Theology"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9ynyQLgmjeKZ+hwfQfXMmhzqiLT9xzW+Et60pTAyYPS=g@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: David Gibson - Mr. Gibson is the director of the Center on Religion and
Culture at Fordham University.
Published in:* The New York Times*
Date: May 22, 2026

Pope Leo XIV?s first landmark teaching document, to be published on Monday,
is expected to explore a theme he has emphasized since beginning his papacy
a year ago: social disruption in the digital age, in particular the dangers
that A.I. poses for human flourishing. Titled ?Magnifica Humanitas,? or
?Magnificent Humanity,? the document is inspired by the teachings of Leo?s
eponymous predecessor, Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical ?Rerum Novarum
<https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html>?
responded to the plight of exploited workers in the Industrial Revolution.
It is considered the modern foundation of Catholic social teaching.

?In our own day,? Leo told the College of Cardinals
<https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/may/documents/20250510-collegio-cardinalizio.html>
 two days after his election, ?the church offers to everyone the treasury
of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to
developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new
challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.? As a sign
of the subject?s importance, the pope plans to make an unprecedented
appearance
<https://www.americamagazine.org/short-take/2026/05/19/pope-leo-ai-anthropic/#:~:text=Indeed%2C%20in%20a%20first%20for,Let%20that%20sink%20in.>
 at the news conference presenting the encyclical.

Most popes since Leo XIII have published
<https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/foundational-documents>
encyclical
<https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/foundational-documents>
s about social teaching. But the subject has remained overshadowed by the
absolute moral law regarding sins of the flesh.

Dedicating his first encyclical to social justice would show how much Leo,
like his predecessor Pope Francis, is trying to shift Catholicism away from
the near fixation on ?pelvic theology
<https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/vatican-document-human-dignity-establishes-theological-guardrails>
,? or sexual morality, that has come to define Catholicism, especially in
Leo?s home country, the United States. The concern is that decades of
focusing on ?sins below the waist,? as Pope Francis memorably put it
<https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/pope-francis-blasts-reactionary-american-catholics-who-oppose-church-reform>
, has fueled the church?s culture war agenda and driven many people away
from the central teachings of the Gospels. It has also left workers and the
marginalized with a weakened moral voice against the predations of powerful
financial interests.

Leo, of course, defends teachings like the church?s stance against
abortion, but he embeds it in a wider context, such as when he defended the
decision of the Archdiocese of Chicago to give Senator Dick Durbin of
Illinois, an abortion-rights Catholic, an award for his long work on behalf
of immigrants. Conservative Catholics were incensed, but Leo told reporters
<https://www.americamagazine.org/news/2025/09/30/pope-leo-sen-durbin-abortion-immigration-cupich/>
 that it?s important to look at the entirety of a person?s views.

Leo was more explicit last month. When a reporter on the papal plane
returning from a trip to Africa asked him about a controversy over the
blessing of gay couples by priests, Leo said: ?We tend to think that when
the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is
sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important
issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of
religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.?

His response dismayed and even infuriated many social conservatives, both
Catholic and Protestant. But Leo was not forging some new doctrine. On the
contrary, he was articulating an older tradition of placing justice above
personal chastity. ?This statement would have seemed perfectly banal to a
theologian of the late 16th century,? Jean-Pascal Gay, a professor of
Christian history at the Catholic University of Louvain, wrote
<https://www.la-croix.com/a-vif/la-justice-avant-la-sexualite-leon-xiv-a-rouvert-la-question-de-la-hierarchie-des-peches-20260507>
 in the Catholic newspaper La Croix. ?In 2026, it has become almost
subversive.?

The church?s emphasis on sexuality began in earnest in the 16th century as
moral theologians started to codify various aspects of Catholic practice,
including producing manuals for clerics to use in assessing the gravity of
sins in the confessional. Various sexual sins, from adultery to
masturbation, were favorites because they were easy to judge ? you either
had sex or you didn?t. Figuring out when a person has been greedy or
insufficiently charitable is harder. As a result, sexual sins became the
gravest sins
<https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/its-time-catholic-ethic-sees-sexuality-gift-not-curse>
, a category unto themselves that assumed an outsize place in the venerable
hierarchy of truths that ordered beliefs.

The legalistic approach to sex and sin became commonplace. The sexual
revolution of the 1960s and the loosening of restrictions on abortion in
the 1970s turbocharged the push to focus on sexual ethics and sideline
social justice. The 1978 election of John Paul II added to that momentum.
The Polish pope, while a strong proponent of Catholic social teaching, was
an especially forceful moralist on sexual ethics. Catholic conservatives in
America made that moralism a priority, forging common cause with the rising
religious right.

Then in 2013 Pope Francis was elected, becoming the first Jesuit pontiff
and the first from the Southern Hemisphere. Francis immediately made it
clear that he had no interest in advancing America?s culture wars. ?Who am
I to judge?? he responded when asked a few months after his election about
the status of gay priests in the church. He elaborated on that comment in a
lengthy interview
<https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2013/09/30/big-heart-open-god-interview-pope-francis/>
 in which he said the church should not talk only about abortion and gay
marriage and contraception but needed to find a ?new balance? by elevating
other key teachings. Otherwise, he said, ?the moral edifice of the church
is likely to fall like a house of cards.?

Leo?s similar approach does not mean that he is about to loosen the
church?s sexual mores. During the news conference on his flight from
Africa, he prefaced his response about gay blessings by saying that ?the
unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters.?
He wants to welcome everyone, and has made a point of meeting with gay
Catholics, for example. But he does not want to alienate those who may
disagree. Leo wants a sexual devolution, if you will.

This approach, and this new encyclical, is arriving at a propitious moment.
The disruptions of the post-liberal world and the threats posed by A.I.
have led many cultural conservatives to make economic justice a priority.
The Trump administration?s crusade against immigrants and foreign aid have
united the U.S. hierarchy in opposition.

The Dobbs decision largely defused abortion as a culture war issue in the
United States, and gay marriage continues to recede as a concern. Bishop
Robert Barron of Minnesota, the American prelate most closely identified
with Donald Trump, has said he would not push to change laws on gay
marriage and compared the church?s ?harping? on sexual ethics to the
disastrous attempt by the Allied forces in World War I to take Gallipoli.
?A good cause, but the wrong strategy,? Bishop Barron has said.

Leo, on the other hand, is not beating a tactical retreat from any issue
but instead is expanding the scope of the church?s teachings, much as
Francis did with his encyclical on the environment, ?Laudato s?.? Like
climate change, A.I. is a scientific topic. But the Catholic approach is
theological and social.

A.I. can do remarkable things, but it can also sow disinformation and
division. Leo stresses wisdom and relationships. His holistic view of
mankind is reflected in the very title of this new encyclical. Our shared
humanity, the pope is saying, is a sacred reality, and that carries a
social responsibility.
David Gibson is the director of the Center on Religion and Culture at
Fordham University and has covered the Vatican as a journalist for four
decades.


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 25 May 2026 18:29:15 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "'I?m sure he (Modi) heard me... unless he has
	some health issues': Norwegian journalist Helle Lyng Svendsen"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9zhndGqoy2gfQ5G3o7fPjfxaSS_WzViB=a2JP21e5MmLw-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Meghdeep Bhattacharyya
Published in: *The Telegraph* *Online*
Date: May 25, 2026
Source:
https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/interview-with-norwegian-journalist-helle-lyng-svendsen-who-questioned-modi-prnt/cid/2162233#goog_rewarded
Svendsen, who represents the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen, found herself
suddenly catapulted to global fame ? and exposed to vilification in India ?
last week

Helle Lyng Svendsen would love to visit India. But the twenty-something
Norwegian journalist is unsure if ?India would welcome me at this point?.

She laughed as she said this to *The Telegraph over a video call from Oslo
on Sunday morning.*

Svendsen, who represents the Oslo-based newspaper *Dagsavisen*, found
herself suddenly catapulted to global fame ? and exposed to vilification in
India ? last week after questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his
reluctance to take media queries.

?Prime Minister Modi, why don?t you take some questions from the freest
press in the world?? she had asked him after his joint press statement with
his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo on May 18.

(While Norway tops the World Press Freedom Index, India ranks 157 among 180
countries.)

Modi walked away without responding.

The backlash was swift.

?After Modi left the country... I started getting really kicked out of
Instagram.... Suddenly that same night, I was suspended from Instagram and
from Facebook,? Svendsen said.

?I think it?s so fascinating how fast that went, that the state visit is
over and then suddenly they lock my accounts, and in just a few hours
they?re able to... make such a powerful technology company as Meta just
suspend that account.?

She added: ?I?ve never experienced anything like this.?

Svendsen said her accounts had since been off and on; restored now and
suspended again. She doesn?t know exactly why, but one of the ways such
digital retribution can be triggered is a large number of users complaining
against an account for alleged copyright violation or misinformation deemed
likely to cause widespread panic or public disorder, among others.

In India, she has been lambasted in TV studios and on social media with
charges of showboating, lack of area expertise, leveraging the encounter
for personal online fame ? even of being an enemy agent.

?Close? encounter

Svendsen had directed her query at Modi as he began walking away from the
joint media appearance in a small, tightly packed room. She dismissed
suggestions that the Prime Minister did not hear her.

?I?m sure that he heard me... unless he has some (auditory) health issues,
which I would not be aware of,? she said.

?I was not that far away from him.... I was sitting second row in a very
small room, and he was just walking out when I asked that question. So, we
were so close.?

What would she have asked Modi had he stopped to answer?

?I would want to tap into the human rights situation (in India),? she said.

She would have asked: ?What are the areas of improvement in your country?
Will you commit to trying to improve some of the human rights violation
situations that are going on, and how will you do it? Will you roll out
initiatives for change? Take the criticism that is coming from within your
country and also international organisations??

She would have also asked the Prime Minister, who has not held a single
unscripted domestic media interaction in 12 years: ?Will you start to take
critical questions from the press at press conferences in India, also the
independent journalists of India that are committed to doing real work and
truthful reporting? Why don?t you take questions from them??

Svendsen got to ask at least one of these questions ? about India?s human
rights record ? to external affairs ministry (West) secretary Sibi George
at a later media interaction.

The query drew a long lecture from George on the past glories of Indian
?civilisation? ? its invention of zero and chess included. That 11-minute
clip caused more furore in India.

Not about ?me?

Svendsen blames that partly on the Indian media.

?It was not me that made this about me,? she said. ?It was the Indian
media, some of the people that now are criticising me, that made this story
about me,? she said.

?Instead of... ?Modi pressed on press freedom in Norway?, they decided to
make it about the journalist.?

Svendsen has since had a brief interaction with Indian leader of the
Opposition Rahul Gandhi on social media.

She laughed when told how the saffron ecosystem had used it to label her a
?Congress proxy?, a ?George Soros-funded agent?, even a ?foreign spy with
the aim of weakening India?.?I don?t have an opinion on him,? she said of
Rahul. ?India is a country now where it seems a one-party situation could
unfold in the future; so there?s a lot of weight on his shoulders as well.
But I would also ask him critical questions.?

Despite the trolling, Svendsen noted that her inbox was also flooded with
messages of solidarity from Indians ? both from India and abroad.

?Even today, I?m getting three to four messages every minute on Instagram,
of (Indian) people thanking me,? she said.

So, which world leader, in her experience, is the easiest to ask tough
questions to?

?My initial thought would be (US) President Donald Trump. Because he?ll
just take questions about everything, every day throughout the day,? she
laughed.

?I asked President Trump a few questions, when I was covering our Prime
Minister?s visit to the US. That?s also a difficult situation, because it?s
a heated environment and he takes questions, but you can?t follow up....?

?Open? society

How about politicians in her own country, which has consistently topped the
World Press Freedom Index?

?Politicians in Norway, even when there?s a crisis around them, even when
their whole life is blowing up, there?s a big political scandal... even at
those types of times, these politicians will do interviews with the press,
often several in a day,? she said.

She cited how former Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg once navigated a
severe media storm by granting 14 interviews in a single day to both large
and small outlets.

?That?s just the type of stuff that can happen in a country where everyone
prioritises democracy.?

Svendsen ? who normally spends her weeks analysing Norwegian labour markets
and local policy shifts ? is surprised that other international
correspondents present at the summit did not build on the momentum of her
questions to Modi or George.

?I had hoped that when the Indian Prime Minister left the stage that
someone else ? some of those who are a lot more senior, well-known ? could
try to challenge him as well,? she said.

?I think that would have been valuable too, to see that there are more
journalists showing solidarity with our colleagues in India that are kept
from asking the tough questions.?Svendsen does not see herself as a hero ?
only as a professional journalist doing her job. And she knows that many
others face a lot heavier odds than her.

?I just literally did my job from a privileged corner of the world. You
guys in India are the ones doing the hard work, the really heavy lifting.
You gotta remember that.?

Would she consider coming to India?

?I don?t know if India would welcome me at this point,? she laughed.

?I would definitely want to come and report. But if that isn?t a
possibility, I would love to come to just experience the culture, the
history, the people. There?s a lot of power in that too.?


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 257
***************************************