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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
I like the Pope. But this is insane.

As someone who went through the experience of infertility, I can appreciate your comment. However, in reading through church documents on this topic, I can to appreciate the loving concern the church has for its members. For that reason, I posted the lengthy article from Catholic Culture. I presume you did not read it or you would not have posted your subsequent comment regarding Islam.

Without any understanding of your religious upbringing, I would refer you to an excellent treatise on this topic. Given at St. Peter's, Rome, on the 25th day of July, the feast of St. James the Apostle, in the year 1968. While that particular encyclical specifically addressed contraception, it also applies to IVF.

Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.
HUMANAE VITAE


5 posted on 02/26/2012 1:39:47 PM PST by NYer ("Be kind to every person you meet. For every person is fighting a great battle." St. Ephraim)
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To: NYer

Thank you, NYer. What the Pope has said is in loving wisdom.


30 posted on 02/26/2012 3:09:55 PM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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