Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Population, Politics and the Pope: Universal Agendas and the Bodies of Women

  • Chapter
Political Economy, Power and the Body

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

  • 86 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter investigates a particular manifestation of the relationship between bodies, power and politics. In particular, it examines the relationship between bodies, the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and the power and politics of the spiritual in relation to United Nations (UN) sponsored international conferences on population and development.1 The Catholic hierarchy engages the body from the corporeal to the institutional, and from the personal to the international. This is evidenced on one level through the hierarchical resources directed at the determination, regulation and control of the corporeal, in particular the bodies of women. It is also visible on another level whereby the hierarchy deploys its spiritual power in the political and often uses this spiritual power as political power.2 Fundamental to all bodily articulations and engagements are the politics of the spiritual that often envelop the political in the name of the spiritual and that are sustained through systems of power.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bernstein, C. and M. Politi (1996) His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Time ( New York: Doubleday).

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’ ( London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale, E. (1976) The Holy See and the International Order ( Gerrards Cross: Col in Smythe).

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmody, D. L. (1993) Responses to 101 Questions About Feminism ( New York: Paul-ist Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) (London: Geoffrey Chapman).

    Google Scholar 

  • Catholic World Report (1993) ‘Exposing the Planners’, April, pp. 39–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1976) Declaration on the Question of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood ( Ottawa: Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops).

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, M. (1973) Beyond God the Father ( London: The Women’s Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, M. (1975) The Church and the Second Sex ( New York: Harder and Row).

    Google Scholar 

  • Delph, Y. and K. Toner (1997) ‘First among Equals’, Conscience, XVIII (3), pp. 2–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fornos, W. and H. Burette (1994) ‘From Bucharest to Cairo: Population Stabiliza-tion Deliberations’, Popline (The Population Institute) 4, pp. 1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1979) The History of Sexuality Volume 1: An Introduction. Trans. By R. Hurley ( London: Allen Lane).

    Google Scholar 

  • Guardian (1994) ‘Protests as Vatican blocks progress at Cairo Forum’, September 8, p. 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hehir, J. B. (1995) ‘Church and State’, in R. McBrien (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Catholicism ( New York: HarperCollins ), pp. 314–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbard, R. (1992) The Politics of Women’s Biology ( New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Irigaray, L. (1985a) Speculum of the Other Woman. Trans. by G. C. Gill ( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Irigaray, L. (1985b) This Sex Which Is Not One. Trans. by C. Porter with C. Burke ( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. P. (1994) World Population - Turning the Tide. Three Decades of Progress ( Norwell: Kluwer Academic Publishers Group).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissling, F. and D. Shannon (1995/96) ‘Church and State at the United Nations’, Conscience, XVI (4), pp. 11–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Los Angeles Times (1994) ‘Abortion Accord Unravels at Talks’, September 8, p. Al.

    Google Scholar 

  • L’Osservatore Romano (1994) ‘All must be assured life and dignity: Archbishop Martino stresses Church’s stance in context of Conference on Population and Development’, September 14, English edn, pp. 7–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • McBrien, R. (ed.) (1995) Encyclopaedia of Catholicism ( New York: HarperCollins ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Neale, P. R. (1998) Constructions, Catholicism and Cairo: the Catholic Construction of Woman, the Holy See, and the International Conference on Population and Devel-opment (ICPD), PhD thesis, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

    Google Scholar 

  • New York Times (1994) ‘As Abortion Fights Rages, Population-Plan Accord Nears’, September 9, p. 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pontifical Council for the Family (1994a) ‘Ethical and Pastoral Dimensions of Population Trends’, Origins, August 4, pp. 174–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pontifical Council for the Family (1994b) The Natural Methods for the Regulation of Fertility: The Authentic Alternative ( Ottawa: Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope John Paul II (1981) Regarding the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World, Familiaris Consortio ( Ottawa: Canadian Catholic Conference).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope John Paul II (1988) On the Dignity and Vocation of Women on the Occasion of the Marian Year, Mulieris Dignitatem (Vatican Polyglot Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope Paul VI (1974) Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Marialis Cultis ( Ottawa: Canadian Catholic Conference).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruether, R. R. (1983) Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology ( Boston: Beacon Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Schotte, J. (1984) `Perspectives on Population Policy’, Origins, September 13, pp. 205–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (1965a) Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium ( London: Catholic Truth Society).

    Google Scholar 

  • Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (1965b) Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modem World, Gaudium et Spes ( London: Catholic Truth Society).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tillard, J. (1995) `The Papacy’, in R. McBrien (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Catholicism ( New York: HarperCollins ), pp. 953–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weigel, G. (1995) ‘What Really Happened at Cairo’, http://www.ocf.org/TheCh…gelWhatReallyHappen.html (downloaded February 22, 1997) (Orthodox Christian Foundation).

  • Whitford, M. (ed.) (1991) The Irigaray Reader ( Oxford: Basil Blackwell ).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Palena R. Neale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Mass Communication Research, University of Leicester, UK

    Gillian Youngs (Lecturer) (Lecturer)

Copyright information

© 2000 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Neale, P.R. (2000). Population, Politics and the Pope: Universal Agendas and the Bodies of Women. In: Youngs, G. (eds) Political Economy, Power and the Body. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333983904_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation