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[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Paglia on relevance of 'Humanae vitae' today The President of the Pontifical Academy of Life offers his thoughts on a bioethical perspective that he says calls for a worldwide alliance among all the sciences for the future of the planet and humanity.By Vatican NewsA two-day Congress organized by the Jérôme Lejeune International Chair of Bioethics opened on Friday, 19 May on the subject “Humanae Vitae, the audacity of an Encyclical on Sexuality and Procreation”. In his introductory greeting to the assembly, Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, emphasized...

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:..And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26, 28) And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave...

Martin Luther King and Planned ParenthoodBy the time Martin Luther King Jr. had taken his seat in 1960 on Planned Parenthood’s committee on the study of contraception, his views on how artificial birth control could be used to reduce Black family size were well-known throughout the United States. King had been recommended to join the committee by the accomplished and influential Morehouse University sociology professor Walter R. Chivers, who had twice written to his former student (October & November), asking him to become a member. For his part, Chivers had volunteered with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for sixteen...

When the War of 1812 broke out, the Town of Billerica, Mass., was in the middle of an extraordinary baby boom. Twelve other families in the town had 13 children. Five had 14 offspring and one had 15. Twenty-six families each had 10 children, 20 families had 11 children and 24 families had 12 children. The largest family had 21 children by two wives. That meant 90 families accounted for 1,043 children. The average Billerica family had an average of 11.6 children per family. The town’s population grew almost exclusively because of its fecundity. In 1810, the population of the...

[Catholic Caucus] There’s Yet Another Jesuit on Francis’s Team. At the Academy for Life They Know Him WellTo the squadron of Jesuits, including a good three cardinals, that Pope Francis has set up in command of the Church, there must be added at least one name that Settimo Cielo culpably omitted in the previous post.It is a name not much in use. And one that nobody in recent days has brought into the swirl of criticisms that have struck the Pontifical Academy for Life, when instead the very one who bears that name was behind them.The controversy broke out following...

[Catholic Caucus] “Humanae Vitae” Under Siege. Cardinal Müller Defends It and CounterattacksThe irrationality of many of Pope Francis’s decisions is not to be found only in the selection of cardinals, both promoted and excluded, as laid bare on August 31 between the serious and the burlesque by Milan archbishop Mario Delpini in his unforgettable commendation (at 2:14:20 of the video recording) of the bishop of the little diocese of Como, Oscar Cantoni, clad in purple unlike him.The irrationality seems to have infected even the Vatican institutes most in tune with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, including the Pontifical Academy for Life presided...

Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI's 1966 encyclical disallowing the use of artificial contraception in marriage, is expected to be overturned by Pope Francis soon. Among several things to watch out for are, failure to distinguish between contraception methods that likely involve the early abortion of a living fetal human and those which don't; ignoring the capacity of governments to use anti-birth policy as a way of tyrannizing their populations; and ignoring the tendency of contraception to lead to women being treated as objects. A traditional Christmas-time carol, the Coventry Carol, has the line: Herod the King, in his raging, charged...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Calls Break With Faith "Development of Doctrine"On his flight back to Rome from Canada on 29 July, Francis said that "you can't do theology if you put a 'no' in front of it" - as if anyone ever said so.He added something about "theological development," referring to an immoral publication on contraception by the Pontifical Academy for Contraception and Polygamy (formerly: For Life), which doesn't contain a "development" but a break with the Catholic faith.Francis claimed that its authors had "done their duty" because they had tried to "advance" [= counteract] doctrine. Knowing he was guilty, Francis...

Why would any Republican vote for that cynical, dishonest, anti-constitutional ‘contraception’ bill?When Democrats accuse Republicans of opposing “access” to birth control, what they really mean is that Republicans oppose forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for birth control or that Republicans oppose coercing people of faith to provide birth control (including abortifacients) against their consciences.The Right to Contraception Act, a bill that passed in the House yesterday, allows reporters and Democrats to manufacture panic by claiming Republicans voted against a bill that “protects access to contraception,” even though the actual legislation was crammed with enough poison pills to kill the...

Local and international groups are rushing to get post-rape kits, emergency contraception, and abortion pills to Ukrainians amid growing evidence that Russian soldiers have used sexual violence as a weapon of war. Ukraine says it's received more than 400 reports of sexual violence, including rape, in two weeks. Existing data is unlikely to "convey an accurate picture" of the true magnitude of sexual violence in the country because rape so often goes unreported, even in times of peace, Jaime Nadal Roig, the UNFPA's representative to Ukraine, told Insider.

Dublin, Ireland, Jan 4, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA). Ireland is preparing to follow France in offering free contraception to women under 25 years of age. The French government introduced the measure on Jan. 1, while the Irish authorities have promised to make contraception free for women aged between 17 and 25 years from August. French officials said that the change would apply to three million young women out of a population of 67.4 million people. Contraception is already free for minors (under 18s). Along with Sweden, France has the highest total fertility rate of the 27 member states of...

Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn. Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world from overpopulation. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm. By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives. 'We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm antibodies,' said Epicyte president Mitch Hein.

Many women are realizing the synthetic hormones in most methods of contraception come with side effects and risks that are annoying and sometimes dangerous.If you’ve watched TV in the last week, you’ve likely seen a commercial for a novel form of birth control called Phexxi. You could hardly miss it, starting as it does with “Welcome to my vagina,” and starring actress Annie Murphy from the wildly popular Emmy award-winning Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek.” As the bubbly Murphy struts about in a cavernous pink bedroom, she promises that Phexxi is something that women have always wanted: an effective, “in the...

Well, the democrats have, once again, with help from their media buddies, muddied the waters and reframed the issue of Obamacare trampling on religious freedom. That issue can now be seen quickly disappearing in everyone’s rear-view mirrors. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, said, “…they [religious organizations like Catholic hospitals] would no longer have to offer breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings – all they have to do is say ‘Oh – I’m really sorry – we believe prayer is the answer…’”

Francis delivers “good news”On Friday, May 14, Jorge Bergoglio (stage name, Francis) addressed the opening of a meeting held in Rome called the General States of Birth. The online meeting was hosted by the Forum of Family Associations, a European “organization that unites 47 national associations and 20 regional Forums representing the reality of 4 million families.” I heard of the address from a “contributing writer at National Catholic Register” who hailed the presentation in a Facebook post, writing:IMPORTANT and UNDERREPORTED (ask why?)VATICAN—This speech by Pope Francis took place yesterday, addressing Italian leaders including PM Draghi. Note his support of...

Pope to speak on Italy’s ‘demographic winter,’ offer perspective on birth ratesVATICAN CITY, May 5, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will join politicians and journalists in addressing an Italian conference on the demographic crisis facing the nation, and the declining rate of births.The Vatican’s Monday announcement noted that the Pope is to provide the opening address at the conference, for the General States of Birth, due to be held just outside the Vatican on May 14 at the Auditorium della Conciliazione.The “Forum for Family Associations,” which organizes the conference, mentioned the “demographic winter” and the...

Vatican Health Gig Gets Contraception CashScandal erupts after exposé on investments in morning-after pillThe John Templeton Foundation, committed to promoting contraception in partnership with faith-based organizations, is pumping $750,000 into the Vatican's global health conference as its main financier. Pfizer, which pushes its injectable contraceptive Sayana Press in collaboration with global aid groups in the world's poorest countries, will also feature at the Vatican conference "Exploring the Mind, Body and Soul," beginning Thursday.The new alliance leaves the Vatican "binding hands and feet to the contraception industry," according to Italy's New Daily Compass.Vatican Invested in AbortifacientThe revelations come days after former...

Human beings bear the image and likeness of God. They are to be reverenced as sacred. Never are they to be used as a means to an end, not even to satisfy the deepest wishes of an infertile couple. Husbands and wives "make love," they do not "make babies." They give expression to their love for one another, and a child may or may not be engendered by that act of love. The marital act is not a manufacturing process, and children are not products. Like the Son of God himself, we are the kind of beings who are "begotten,...

[Catholic Caucus] “Humanae Vitae” Farewell. Here Comes the One Who Will Celebrate Its FuneralPublished as received. The author of the commentary, Thibaud Collin, is a professor of philosophy at the Collège Stanislas in Paris and has written important essays on “gender” theory, same-sex marriage, and political secularism. His latest book, from 2018, is entitled: “Le mariage chrétien at-il encore un avenir?”The starting point for his reflection is the appointment of Philippe Bordeyne, 61, moral theologian, rector of the Institut Catholique of Paris, as president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, replacing PierAngelo Sequeri.The...

Many Catholics today already possess the intuition that there is a crucial link, so to speak, between Humanae Vitae and homosexuality. They can see how the severing of the unitive and procreative meanings of marital relations—and the reduction of marital relations to mere “sex”—paved the way for the ideologies of “orientation” and “gender” that generate so-called “sexual minorities” and “sexual identities.” Yet, the genie was let out of the bottle so long ago that most of us can no longer see just how glaringly obvious this connection really is. To get a glimpse, one needs to go back to the...