Förre påven piskade sig själv...

Nyheten kommer från en biografi om Johannes Paulus II.

Själv tycker jag att det som är mest intressant är att det hävdas att det här inte har något med psykologi att göra. Bullshit - rent ut sagt. Det är verkligen sjukt att se kroppen som en fiende - så som bl.a. Opus-Dei-"helgonet" Escriva gjorde. Det är sjukt att piska sig själv. Inte värt någon gloria. Det är väl känt att förre påven hade ett särskilt gott öga till Opus Dei, men fenomenet att "tukta kroppen" på allehanda sätt är inte obekant i katolsk kyrkohistoria, så inspirationen kan han ha fått i princip var som helst ifrån. Under lång tid ansågs det helt normalt. Rentav föredömligt (bl.a. i 1800-talets Frankrike där lilla Thérèse växte upp - redan som treåring hade hon förstått det - men hennes helgonmeriter vilar inte på det). I vissa kretsar är det fortfarande något som anses positivt.

Har läst någonstans att smärta frigör kemikalier i hjärnan som gör att man blir beroende av den. Något knarkliknande alltså, ett lyckorus. Kanske "helgonens" självbestraffning inte gör så ont trots allt? Kanske "självförnekelsen" ger dem just det de försöker neka sig? Väldigt intressant, rent psykologiskt, tycker jag...

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"Cognitive dissonance is the process whereby people believe two entirely different things at the same time, and see no contradiction in their beliefs. In this case the dissonance arises when we consider the Pope's behavior as applied to almost anyone else in the world. We would see it as a sign of mental illness, and hope the afflicted person would seek medical help.

According to Wikipedia Self-harm is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) as a symptom of borderline personality disorder. The motivations for self-harm vary and may be used to fulfill a number of different functions. These functions include self-harm being used as a coping mechanism which provides temporary relief of intense feelings such as anxiety, depression, stress, emotional numbness and a sense of failure or self-loathing. Self-harm is often associated with a history of trauma and abuse including emotional abuse, sexual abuse, drug dependence, eating disorders, or mental traits such as low self-esteem or perfectionism. There is also a positive statistical correlation between self-harm and emotional abuse."

Läs hela artikeln här.

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"In Santo Subito (A Saint Now) by Andrea Tornielli, the Pope’s biographer and Vatican correspondent of Il Giornale, Sister Sobodka said: ”We could hear it – we were in the next room at Castel Gandolfo. You could hear the sound of the blows when he would flagellate himself. He did it when he was still capable of moving on his own.”

He must have been really going at it hard if they could hear him in the next room!

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“As some members of his own entourage were able to hear with their own ears, both in Poland and in the Vatican, Karol Wojyka flagellated himself,” the book says. “…in his wardrobe, among his soutanes, he had hanging a particular belt for trousers that he used as a whip, and which he would ensure was always taken to Castel Gandolfo.”

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Do religious self-flagellators receive a perverse sense of gratification of the flesh by causing it pain?

Not according to retired prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins. In the case of saints who subjected themselves voluntarily to rigorous penance, these practices had nothing to do with psychological imbalance, he emphasized.

He said: “The saints are in the first place very normal persons. If this wasn’t so they wouldn’t be able to be saints. There are many saints who did penance and saw this as a way to bring their body under control; it has nothing to do with psychology.”

One of our most recent saints, St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, didn’t shy away from pain: “Blessed be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pain…Glorified be pain! (The Way, 208). “If you realize that your body is your enemy, and an enemy of God’s glory since it is an enemy of your sanctification, why do you treat it so softly?”

Future historians and investigative journalists may uncover what was Pope John Paul II’s connection to Opus Dei. How was he helpful to them? How were they useful to him? It appears he adopted their self-mortification practices.

But would Pope John Paul II been more “saintly” if he would have spent the time instead comforting a sick child in a hospital; stand outside an abortion clinic and offer his hand and financial support to an unmarried, pregnant woman about to enter; or make it known to the corps of elite Catholic business titans and government officials clean water for drinking, sanitation and agriculture was needed for all people, but especially the poor who have no other alternatives or place to go?

I think so. Sometimes it is much easier to beat yourself up than do the right thing."

Läs mer här.