La iglesia católica y los límites de usar la categoría de "mal intrinseco"

Destruir la biosfera no es "intrinsecamente malo" para la iglesia católica, como lo es supuestamente el "matrimonio gay", un compromisos de amor en pareja. El abuso de la categoría de "intrinsecamente malo" es de notarse.

Cathleen Caveny argumenta en America, la revista de la Compañía de Jesús en Estados Unidos, sobre la extraña dependencia y contradicción lógica de la jerarquía católica en la categoría de lo "intrinsecamente malo" para unos casos y no para otros. Ella critica la nebulosidad de la lógica casuistica de muchos jesuitas al respecto, conocida como "tiempos, lugares y personas"... Vale decir que el argumento de Caveny se me hace mucho más lógico que el de muchos jesuitas.

Some Catholic commentators have claimed that the certainty we have about the wrongfulness of intrinsically evil acts means that we should give their prevention priority over other acts, which may or may not be wrong, depending upon the circumstances.

Their argument seems to run like this: the church teaches that abortion, euthanasia and homosexual acts are always wrong, but not that war or capital punishment is always wrong. Therefore, good Catholics ought to focus their political efforts on preventing acts they know to be wrong, and remain agnostic about the rest. One commentator has suggested that the church gives us “wiggle room” on issues that do not involve intrinsically evil acts.

This way of understanding a Catholic approach to the morality of human action is deeply mistaken. The church teaches that acts can be wrong because of their object, motive or circumstances. If a particular act is not wrong by reason of its object, we have a duty to consider motive and circumstances before performing it or endorsing it, particularly if the consequences might bring great harm to other people (as, for example, collateral damage in war).

Lean todo su artículo Vale mucho la pena leer toda su cuidada argumentación, que es referido en parte a la decisión electoral este año en Estados Unidos., no por nada es profesora de teología y de derecho en la Universidad de Notre Dame. Termina así:

"... the prophetic use of the term “intrinsic evil” is meant to start an urgent discussion among people of good will about grave injustices in the world. It does not provide a detailed blueprint for action. Identifying infamies is one thing. Deciding upon a strategy to deal with them is something else again. For many pro-life Catholics, the issue of voting and abortion comes down to this: what does one do if one thinks that the candidate more likely to reduce the actual incidence of abortion is also the one more committed to keeping it legal? The language of intrinsic evil does not help us here. Only the virtue of practical wisdom, enlightened by charity, can take us further."