The emperor's new clothes by Hans Christian Andersen seems to me to be a tremendously topical tale. We see the Emperor walking in front of our eyes totally naked and no one dares to say it out loud for not looking bad. And at the expense of our stupidity and fear, some allegedly swindling tailors, who know the human heart very well, get rich and escape with our money.
Who dares to say that the purpose of human sexuality is the union of the couple and the reproduction of the species, and that its very nature is that of complementarity between man and woman? Simply quoting Scripture and saying that 'male and female he created them (cf. Gen 1:27) already seems a provocation.
Chesterton said that "the day will come when it will be necessary to draw the sword to affirm that the grass is green". I do not know whether it is necessary to draw the sword or the pen to defend the truth, but what is certain is that a tyranny of political correctness has been imposed in which for defending the obvious you are branded as radical or you are ostracized.
But it is necessary to dare to say that the king is naked. It is not enough that we do not echo this ideology and pass by, as if on tiptoe, without pronouncing ourselves in silence. There are silences that are affirmations. There are truths that, if we do not proclaim them, however obvious they may seem, are obscured.
Demetrio Fernandez, bishop of Cordoba, addressed this topic in the catechesis he gave at the World Youth Day to the young people's questions. He did not duck the tough question. And many other uncomfortable ones about abortion, the 2030 agenda and other thorny issues for which young people seek answers.
There would be many questions to ask ourselves in all fairness on this subject. The questioner Cui prodest, who benefits, which leads us to look at the alleged tailors who have sold us a suit that is false and who escape with the emperor's money. Because I have no doubt that there is a confluence of economic, ideological and power interests in us assuming this new ideological dictatorship.
We need some child with an innocent look, as in the story or as happened with the prophet Daniel when they were going to stone the chaste Susana, to make us see clearly what for fear of the powerful we did not dare to say.
We must be as innocent as doves and as cautious as serpents (cf. Mt 10:16), because those who are ready to throw stones are hiding in every corner. The truth, from the deepest charity, we must also know how to speak it and expose it with pedagogy, at the right time.
For, again to quote the wisdom of the English journalist, 'adventure may be mad, but the adventurer must be sane'.
And today there is no adventure more exciting and difficult than telling the truth.
