Posted on 02/18/2016 6:29:35 PM PST by marshmallow
Pope Francis hinted that the use of contraceptives may be morally acceptable as a response to the Zika epidemic, during an question-and-answer session on February 18.
Speaking to reporters who accompanied him on his return flight to Rome, after a visit to Mexico, the Pope said that "avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil." While abortion cannot ever be justified, he suggested, avoiding pregnancy could be a "lesser evil" in light of the alleged dangers of birth defects.
During an interview session that proved controversial even by the standards of this pontificate, the Pope said:
* US presidential candidate Donald Trump is "not Christian" if he believes that a wall is the best solution to immigration problems (see today's separate CWN headline story);
*He would not comment on the Italian government's proposal to allow for registration of civil unions because "the Pope doesn't get mixed up in Italian politics."
*Bishops who have moved pedophile priests from parish to parish should resign;
*Pope Benedict XVI was-even before his election as Pontiff-instrumental in leading the fight against sexual abuse; he was "the brave one who helped so many open this door;"
*He would not comment on what was said during a "private conversation" with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, but "I walked out of it happy, and he did too."
*The Church must do more to prepare couples for marriage; the Pontiff pointed out that priests prepare for their vocation for eight years, while engaged couples have only a few counseling sessions.
*Catholics who divorce and remarry must be integrated into the life of the Church-but, the Pope cautioned, "Integrating in the Church doesn't mean receiving Communion."
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
Preventing the birth of humans with less desirable traits is the definition of eugenics, isn't it?
The case of rape is not comparable nor a precedent since the very act of conceiving involves a violation of the body and free will of the victim.
Did I miss the Zika virus exception in Humanae Vitae?
Next up for the Pope : abortion ok if you had zika while pregnant and you think the baby may be affected.
Except he didn’t approve of it. He gave a lengthy response about the subject going into depths about what is a “lesser evil” which the media doesn’t care about. He still said it was wrong.
However, the media knows the majority of the public won’t question the headline and soon everyone will accept that it was fact that the Pope said you can abort babies with genetic abnormalities.
Wouldn’t it be more efficient for him to advocate abortion of the babies deemed defective, instead of contracepting to prevent all babies, including healthy ones? At least he was careful to not suggest abstinence for a season. /s
Insane! How many Souls is he not misleading... May God Correct him.
not = now
Isn’t contraception kind like a wall?
Another problem with the Pope’s ignorant statement is the possibility that Zika is not the culprit in the microcephaly increase. Per Dr. Mercola’s website, there are many other factors that are more likely causes.
Besides the fact that contraceptives do not prevent conception, as their primary effect is the rendering of the lining of the uterus hostile to implantation of the conceptus.
The universal and infallible law of Humanae Vitae, the “every marriage act should be open to new life” is still in effect. I doubt the Holy Spirit is going to change His mind.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/02/16/zika-virus.aspx
This Pope is a fool... and Saint John Paul II must be rolling over in his grave.
He didn't? Why did he bring up what Paul VI supposedly permitted nuns in the Congo to do?
I thought abstinence was the only method of birth control for Catholics.
Shouldn’t abstinence also be the safest, surest method of preventing disease?
Condoms fail & come off. Body fluids don’t conveniently confine themselves to the area of the condom.
How is risking the life of your child on a $1 condom good advice?
This is bad, bad health advice.
As far as I know, the Church encourages Natural Family Planning as the only means of family planning. He may have been referring to that.
My sister and her husband are both carriers of a genetic disease called Niemann-Pic Type C, and have lost 2 children at age 10 from this disease. Granted, it’s rare and not an epidemic, but how is the Zika virus worse than this?
The case of the Belgian nuns in the Congo in 1960 involved vowed celibate women who were in remote mission stations threatened by rape in the course of the war. They were not choosing any sex act at all. Therefore they were not committing the sin of contraception.
In the case of rape, the rapist's semen can legitimately be considered an extension of his invasion of your body. There is no sin in limiting this invasion.
This is utterly unlike abortion, because abortion involves not the rapist, but another person: a conceived child. In no way can you legitimately target and destroy the child.
It's also different from the sin of contraception, because it does not involve planning/hoping for a sterilized sexual act. The medical missionary nuns in the Congo mission stations didn't plan, hope for, choose, or want any sexual act at all.
As for married Catholics who have a legitimate reason to want to postpone pregnancy, --- like, possibly, say the wife has a Zika infection which could do teratogenic damage if she conceived a child--- the only morally legitimate way to postpone pregnancy to a safer time, is periodic or temporary abstinence from intercourse.
Pope Francis should make this clear. If he does not --- or if the media do not report all the nuances --- then <>we've got to get out there and make this clear.
More horse hockey. All Catholic single women are expected to remain celibate until marriage.
Do you have documentation of Paul VI’s supposed permit for contraceptives for these nuns. If so, why doesn’t Francis grant permission to single Catholic women in war torn Syria and Chicago, due to imminent threats of rape in both regions?
The virus can also cause miscarriage or birth defects in women already pregnant.
Predicted it along with abortion, gay rights, etc. ... sounds like another Progressive shill.
I don’t get it, what about the abortifacient possibility?
Freegards
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