Vatican Conference on Women: Plastic Surgery Is Like “A Burqa Made of Flesh”

Last updated on: January 30, 2015 at 7:23 pm by Kathy Schiffer

Vatican Conference on Women: Plastic Surgery Is Like “A Burqa Made of Flesh” 2015-01-30T19:23:50-05:00 Kathy Schiffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Last month I told you about a controversial new video released by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, in preparation for the February 4-7 Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, which has as its theme “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference.” Critics of the video thought that the Italian actress who invites women to send their concerns via video is too coquettish, too sexy, too flip.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Culture, chose the theme.

Only members and consultors of the Pontifical Council will be permitted to attend. There will, however, be a Public Opening Event. Details about the conference and about the Opening Event will be released at a press conference on February 2.

We do know this: The Plenary Assembly, which has the hashtag #LifeofWomen, will consist of four sessions with the following emphases:

1. Between equality and difference: the quest for an equilibrium

2. “Generativity” as a symbolic code

3. The female body: between culture and biology, and

4. Women and religion: flight or new forms of participation in the life of the Church?

A report published today by Crux reveals some details regarding the preliminary document which was prepared by a panel of female consultors, and which will guide the Pontifical Council’s discussions. In particular, the document noted the Vatican’s condemnation of elective plastic surgery, which it calls “aggression” against women. According to Crux:

A new Vatican document expresses a negative view of elective plastic surgery for women, warning that procedures such as facelifts and tummy tucks can become a form of “aggression” that threatens female identity.

Surgical alterations in appearance, the document says, can “amputate the expressive possibilities of the human face, which are so connected to empathic abilities,” and “can be aggressive toward the feminine identity, showing a refusal of the body.”

The text suggests that elective plastic surgery may reflect the stress many women feel about their bodies, which sometimes result in “pathologies” such as eating disorders, depression, and dysmorphic disorders.

The role of women in the Church will also be a dominant theme. The preparatory document asks, “Why, with their great presence, have women had so little impact on the Church’s structures? In pastoral praxis, why are we giving women only those tasks of a somewhat rigid scheme, the fruit of ideological and ancestral left-overs?” Noting that women are top managers in other walks of life, the document seems to suggest that women should exercise greater responsibility in key Vatican posts.

Not included on the agenda is a discussion of ordination of women–which is not, according to statistics, a topic which concerns most Catholic women. There is a need, though, for the Vatican to better understand the image of woman. Most women do not, the authors note, spend their afternoons praying the Rosary or taking part in religious devotions.

Among the presenters at the February 2 news conference will be Nancy Brilli, the Italian actress whose performance on the recently released video was criticized by English-speaking Catholics.

The Vatican’s discussion of plastic surgery, I thought, was a fitting response to my report, just yesterday, about the three breast enhancement surgeries undergone by actress Melissa Gilbert.

For more information–at least, for the information which is available to date–click here.

Pontifical Council for Culture

Previous Post

January 30, 2015

Twins Born 87 Days Apart--And That 23-Week-Old Newborn Is Astonishing!

Next Post

January 31, 2015 Church Vs. State: Six Court Cases To Watch

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #Synod14 Abortion Abstinence Abuse Addiction Adoption Advent Adventure Advertising Aging Agnosticism All Saints Day All Souls Day Amish Anathema Angels Anglican Animals Annulment Annunciation Apocalypse Apologetics Apostles Apostleship of the Sea Apparitions Archangels Archbishop Cordileone Archbishop Dolan Archbishop Vigneron Archeology Architecture Art Art Buchwald Ash Wednesday Assisted Suicide Astronauts Atheism Athletes Babies Baptism Beatification Beauty Bible Biochemistry Bioethics Birds Bishop Lori Bishops Blasphemy Books Canon Law Canonization Capital Punishment Cardinal Burke Cardinal Dolan Cardinal George Caritas Catechesis Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic Catholic Education Catholic Higher Education Catholic Social Teaching Celibacy Cemeteries Character Charity Chastity Cheapskate Christian Unity Christmas Churches Civil Rights Cloning Comedy Communion of Saints Community Kitchens Confession Confirmation Conscience Consequences Consistory Constitution Contraception Conversion Cooking Councils of the Church Creativity Criminal Justice Cristero War Crucifixion Crystal Cathedral Culture Death Death and Dying Death Penalty Department of Health and Human Services Diaconate Dictatorship of Relativism Dignity Disability Discrimination Dissidence Divorce Doctors of the Church Early Church Fathers Easter Economics Ecumenism Education Encyclicals Environmentalism Episcopal Church Eucharist Euthanasia Evangelism Evangelists Evangelization Evolution Excuses Facebook Faith Families Family Fashion Fasting Fatherhood Federal Government Feminism Fiction Film First Amendment First Communion For Greater Glory Forgiveness Free Speech Friends Friendship Gender Discrimination Germany Gnosticism Good Friday Government Grace Greed Gregorian Calendar Happiness Health Heaven Heresy History Holidays Holiness Hollywood Holy Land Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Holy Week Holy Year Home Sweet Home Homosexuality Hope Humanism Humility Humor Imagination Immaculate Conception Immigration Impulsivity In Vitro Fertilization Incarnation Indulgences Infallibility Internet Islam Italy Jerusalem Jesus Judaism Justice Kathleen Sebelius Labor Movement LCWR Lent Life Literature Liturgy Lourdes Love Magi Marketing Marriage Martyrdom Martyrs Mary Mass Media Medical Ethics Mexico Michigan Miracles Missionaries Modernism Modesty Monks Monothelitism Motherhood Movies Mushrooms Music Muslim Mystery Mysticism Mythology Nativity Natural Law Nature New Evangelization New Media New Year New Year's Resolutions Nostalgia Obscenity Occult Old Testament Origen Orthodox Orvieto Pallium Papacy Parenting Patience Patriarch Bartholomew Patriotism Peace Peace and Justice Penitence Pentecost People Persecution Philosophy Poetry Political activism Political Correctness Politics Polls Pop Culture Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI Pope St. Pius X Pope Urban VII Population Prayer Preaching Prejudice Pride Priesthood Pro-Life Protestantism Psychology Purgatory Queenship of Mary Racism Rape Real Presence Reconciliation Reformation Relics Religious Religious Liberty Reliquary Renewal Reproductive Technology Resurrection Rights Romance Rome Royalty Sacraments Sacred Heart Saints Satanism Science Science Fiction Scripture Seal of Confession Secularism Seniors September 11 Seventy Times Seven Sexuality Sharks Sin Smoking Social Communications Social Justice Social Networking Social Sciences Space Exploration Spirituality Sports St. Luke St. Patrick's Day St. Paul St. Peter St. Teresa of Avila Stations of the Cross Steve Jobs Superstition Supreme Court Symbolism Synod Technology Teen Rebellion Television Terrorism Thankfulness Thanksgiving Theology Think This, Not That Tobit Toilets Toys Tradition Traditions Transplants Travel Trinity Twitter U.S. Air Force Uncategorized United Nations USCCB Valentine Vatican Vatican Archives Vatican Blogfest Virtue Vocations Where We Pray White Heart Women World Day of Social Communications World Meeting of Families World News World Youth Day Worship Writing Year of Consecrated Life Year of Faith Year of Mercy Youth

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian group is known for not celebrating holidays or birthdays?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Orthodox Episcopalians Methodists Jehovah's Witnesses