“Eve was framed!” That bumper-sticker slogan gave us a welcome giggle when we first saw it, but now it seems an important rallying cry in response to a letter from the Vatican attacking feminism. Who knew that women’s quest for equality from “biological determinism” has brought about everything from the breakup of the family to gay marriage? Such a notion would be funny if it didn’t reflect how utterly out of touch the Church leaders in Rome are from the realities of women’s lives.

“Faced with abuse of power, the answer for women is to seek power,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the leader of the Church’s infamous Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the author of this remarkable document, charges. Entitled “On the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World,” the 37-page letter, which was sent to bishops on July 31, continues, “This process leads to opposition between men and women.” Well, yes. For a woman to achieve power means, in many cases, dislodging a man — opposing him. That doesn’t make the woman a man-hating witch, any more than it makes a man going for a powerful position one, but that’s the implication here.