Amor ao próximo e homoafetividade no discurso da Santa Sé: argumentação e gestão de pontos de vista em textos de Bento XVI e Francisco

Abstract

This doctoral research undertakes an argumentative and enunciative analysis of the discourse of the Holy See, the entity representing the decision-making apex of the Catholic Church. Texts published in Portuguese between 2005 and 2021, under the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis, are analyzed. The general objective of the investigation is to assess the management of points of view and enunciative responsibility regarding the themes of love for one’s neighbor and homoaffectivity in the Church, considering its role in the argumentative construction. The research aims to interpret how ambiguous orientations argued by the same enunciative entity are accommodated in pontifical texts. The study is primarily based on the l’argumentation dans le discours and Alain Rabatel's theorization on points of view and enunciative postures. The thesis adopts a descriptive-interpretative stance and, consistently with this stance, highlights political aspects of the issue and performs gestures of critical reflexivity. The state of the art is compiled into an articulation of categories of analysis, replicable to other corpora. The analysis is conducted based on the conception of two thematic axes, designated as the aggregation and segregation axes. In the latter, two documents authorized by the pope, whose content censures homoaffectivity in the ecclesial context and the sacrament of marriage, are placed. The aggregation thematic axis contains, proportionally, two texts that promote love for one’s neighbor without restrictions and are, in addition to being authorized, signed by the supreme pontiff. The analysis concluded that the same enunciator, the Holy See, whose main voice is that of the pope, supported by Catholic doxa values, effectively argues disparate and seemingly contradictory points of view. However, this apparent incongruity is resolved through the common dogmatic evidential source, referred to in this thesis as the pistis christica. The degree of apparent contradiction and the attribution and assumption of enunciative responsibility vary depending on the discursive genre, the targeted addressee, the thematic axis, and the discourse object. It was also concluded that, while the enunciation related to the person of the pope tends to vary between pontificates, the discourse of the pope as an institution tends to continuity. Finally, it was inferred that the primary speakers of the aggregation texts more frequently and evidently resort to emotions, mobilizing more subjectivemes and pathemes. These, although present in the segregation texts, tend to be erased by the speaker’s disengagement and the austerity of the discursive genre.