Pope reaffirms Church opposition to contraception

afp.google.com ^ | 10/3/08 | AFP

[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.

[Kolokotronis]

“I had a deacon tell me, “I don’t even want to talk to you,” though.”

That could be a start! Ping me when the bishop yells at you! :)

[stuartcr]

Thanks

[stuartcr]

Thanks

[xzins]

I’m treading in dangerous waters for a protestant, but I think the original decision to oppose contraception demonstrated piercing foresight and was right on the money.

Believing it’s ok to block existence leads to the belief that all decisions about existence belong to humans and are able adequately to be handled by humans.

That is a destructive slippery slope.

[Miss Marple]

Correct. I was a young woman and a nominal Protestant when that encyclical was written, and I can remember scoffing at the predictions Pope Paul made about how made it would be for society and marriage, as well as for women.

Years of deterioration in our culture point to how wise Pope Paul was, and now that I am a Catholic and actually understand the position of the Church on birth control and the role of marital love, I have a great appreciation for these words.

I repent of my early disdain for what turned out to be very wise words.

[dmz]

I confess that the most interesting thing about this thread is the lack of Biblical references. In most disputes about what is or is not acceptable, there are usually numerous specific references from the Bible.

Sincere question: Is this one of the articles of faith that Catholics come to from tradition, as opposed to coming to that from scripture? Forgive my ignorance, raised mostly Episcopalian (dinosaurs still ruled the earth), now quite agnostic.

[Jvette]

In some respects you are right in your assessment of the laity of the church. There has been very poor teaching regarding the faith and history. Too many of the people have no clue and don’t want to know.

But, I am finding a greater number of regular church goers who want to learn and are holding their pastors accountable if and when they stray from authentic church teaching.

I do not disparage the Orthodox. But, there is no doubt that too many Protestant faiths have allowed “voting” by their adherents that has led to a kind of anarchy.

[A.A. Cunningham]

"Juda, therefore add to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing." Genesis 38:8-10

Artificial contraception removes responsibility, the total giving of self and love from the conjugal act and results in it being little more than mutual masturbation.