Posted on 10/03/2008 8:05:10 AM PDT by Publius804
Pope reaffirms Church opposition to contraception
VATICAN CITY (AFP) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday reaffirmed the Catholic Church's condemnation of artificial birth control, a position that has driven millions of people away from the faith.
Contraception "means negating the intimate truth of conjugal love, with which the divine gift (of life) is communicated," the leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics wrote on the 40th anniversary of a papal encyclical on the controversial topic.
The message came two months after an appeal for a retraction by some 60 Catholic groups who said the Church's stance had been "catastrophic" for the world's poorest and weakest.
The open letter in July by dissident Catholic bodies from countries including Britain, Brazil, Canada, France and the United States said the Church's opposition to birth control endangered women's lives and exposed millions of people to the risk of contracting AIDS.
It said the impact of the 1968 encyclical had been "disastrous in the southern hemisphere, where the Catholic leadership exercises considerable influence on the politics of family planning."
An encyclical is a letter usually treating some aspect of Catholic doctrine and issued occasionally by the pope.
The landmark document, whose title in English is "On the Regulation of Birth," was published at a time when the development of the Pill was giving new sexual freedom to women across the world.
Millions of Catholics distanced themselves from Rome as a result, while the clergy were divided on how to deal with such a document, covered as it was by the doctrine of papal infallibility.
The 81-year-old pope's message Friday to a seminar on the encyclical also reaffirmed that the rhythm method is an acceptable form of contraception for couples in "dire circumstances" who need to space their children.
(Excerpt) Read more at afp.google.com ...
Christian and Jewish tradition always frowned on artificial birth control. Protestants uniformly condemned it until the Lambeth Conference of 1930, which was the breach in the wall.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal. Reading the mind of another poster is a form of “making it personal.”
Millions?!! Where did they round up those statistics?
Catholic Ping List
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
They counted the Boston phone book?
“Protestants uniformly condemned it until the Lambeth Conference of 1930, which was the breach in the wall.”
and a good “breach” it was......NO other religion preaches this....The incredibley poor should be able to use birth control without fear of eternal damnation.
Pretty hard to justify the “no birth-control” position when it adds to exisitng missery in poor countries..
This whole concept originated as a way to insure a base of Catholics for tithing..... The last thing the desperately poor around the world need...is this. Case in point for why other religions are taking hold in the most poor places. Don't bother to Flame away..(I'm turning off my mail)...but DARE to think about it....Hmmmm, another one who doesn't get it.
Do tell, what religion do you claim as your own?
Pro-Life bumpus ad summum
RM alerted without comment.
Nope...more concern for the millions of abject poor that are deprived of birth-contol methods and watch their children hunt for garbage to eat...take a nice visit to the poor of Mexico City..the Church can stop some of it and won’t. I’m passionate...you (and many others) just take the easy road and blindly follow without thought.
What, you mean besides Judaism and Christianity? And, come to think of it, Islam? Though Islam is more widely observant of the prohibition, which is why they look likely to win -- see Europe. And read Mark Steyn.
Thanks.
Charles Provan's "the Bible and birth control"??
Humanae Vitae itself?
Martin Luther on birth control?
Mahatma Gandhi on birth control when the Anglicans approved it in 1930?
Read any Germain Grisez?
Read any Janet Smith?
It is typical of liberals that they don't engage a conservative argument intellectually; they merely dismiss its proponents as "naive" or "stupid," or insinuate that they don't "think for themselves".
Sound familiar?
So: tell us your bona fides. What have you read of the intellectual case against contraception?
Thanks x2.
Test question: what method of family planning costs nothing, is >99% effective, and has been successfully taught to poor women in India?
Then may we assume you're pro-abortion, too? Just as effective in "preventing" poor people! Such compassion! /s
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