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 ...
No, Im’ rabidly anti-abortion...but prevention is the key to reducing poverty in these countries.
Don’t be snotty...that’s the easy way...deep thought is more difficult.
I have NO problem with that...but favor teaching ALL methods. Why would one be better than others in the eyes of GOD?
Talk is cheap....go to Mexico City, or India, or China...and work with the people. Family planning reduces the pain of seeing your children die of starvation.
It’s really easy to fall back on someones writings...not so easy to go deal with the results.
Don’t go look up an article to support your clean little world...go out and get down and irty with the poor...you’ll change your tune.
Most Christans and Jews...do not condem the use of birth-control.
I've thought about it. I've thought about the millions of women out there who were "test subjects" for hormonal control methods. They were (and still are) the poor and ignorant in what we call 3rd World countries who are used like lab rats, in many cases dying, to find the optimum level of artificial hormones to prevent a newly formed life, sent by God, from taking root.
I've thought a lot about how these women were made into things by doctors and pharmaceutical companies to sell - for enormous profit - pill systems that effectively turn "modern" women into objects for men's sexual gratification. Women might gain some pleasure, but the organs are not being used for their primary purpose - the transmission of life.
Yes, there are many families out there who sacrifice tremendously by bringing many children into the world. What the Church teaches is that each of these lives is precious in the eyes of God - we are made in His image - and we must TRUST in Him for our necessities. Just as we must follow the Church in knowing that the sacrifice and practice of abstinence is far healthier than poisoning ourselves.
see my response to Champion...talk is cheap....reading and falling back on someone elses logic is easy. Go roll your sleeves up and work with the poor....then get back to me as you help them bury the children who die of starvation.
The most severe poverty today is moral poverty. And the Anglicans are leading the way in creating same.
This is a very recent development -- really only since the sexual revolution of the 60s. Seems to me Orthodox Jews still don't accept it. Protestants followed the Anglicans, but it's hard to say since they tend not to have a visible head commenting. But I've seen several articles over the past 10 years or so by Protestants rethinking their acceptance of birth control after reflecting what's come in its wake.
Seems to me what they're deprived of is a reasonably honest government. Though you're not the first to propose solving poverty by getting rid of the poor. Have you read Swift's A Modest Proposal? Granted Swift was a satirist.
Puhleeeze!
God’s ways are not our ways.
As someone who grew up in such a family (large and poor), I assure you that God gives strength and grace to members of families who abandon themselves to His will.
We received many non-material blessings.
And people wonder why gay marriage is gaining . . . Another side-effect of the Pill!
If talk is so cheap, why do you bother here? Aren’t you wasting your time here, according to your own logic?
When I was younger I used to think as you.
I have learned, as I have gotten older, that the Church has a point.
When people choose to use birth control, what should be a sanctified and serious act becomes nothing more than entertainment. And a child born through entertainment isn’t really valued.
Much better, I think, to help those people who are in poor countries, which is what I do, and which is encouraged by Catholic charities.
I personally don’t think birth control has made our nation more caring about children. All you have to do is read the newspapers.
We cannot eradicate poverty, especially by going against God’s word. Jesus never asked anyone to rid the world of poverty or any suffering. He asked us to help whom ever, where ever and when ever we can.
It is natural to feel compassion for the poor, the ill, the disabled and all who suffer and to want to alleviate it. But, the very people who condemn the Church for this position, ridicule and condemn the Church for its position on things that would reduce some of the sad situations of the poor, i.e. reserving sex for marriage.
It is an age old lament that though God is good and loving, there still exists in this life strife, hardship and enormous suffering. We who do not have the mind of God, nor can we see the whole picture, start to finish, that He sees.
Rather than pridefully thinking we can do anything on our own, we should always remember the words of St. Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Those words apply to trusting in God and in His word. “Go forth and multiply.” Read Mt 6:25-34 which ends with, “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
It is good that you have given of yourself to help, that you have felt sadness for those in such pain and I commend you for it. You have done as Jesus asked and offered to the least among us food, clothing, drink, solace, love. If only everyone did as much, the problems would be lessened, but through love of God and neighbor not through rejection of His will. God does not will suffering, He wills that we help our brothers and sisters because He knows that suffering is something we cannot avoid, but a loving hand is something we can all extend.
And don’t forget Feminism with its masculinization of women and feminization of men. The feminist movement didn’t really take off until 1968, if you think about. A coincidence? No.
As a Christian I believe in certain forms of birth control
In Jewish Law:
The first mitzvah (commandment from God) in the Torah states: “And God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 1:28). The Talmud interprets this to mean that every Jewish man should father at least one boy and one girl (Yevamot 61b).
Still, Jewish Law, Halacha in Hebrew, does permit certain methods of birth control in appropriate circumstances.
Many christian couples I know have there children and then if it’s the woman she may elect to have her tubes tied or the man to have a vasectomy and all worries are over...
NFP = “natural family planning”
Sorta like the rhythm method only more accurate.
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