Pope Benedict XVI on has 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.”
When populations learn about contraception and realize the essential effect on family economics, birth control is adopted generally – and formerly loyal followers begin to question priests who still have a poker up their backside over the issue.
Who the heck would be able to have sex after this?
#3 – LinusVP – If you don’t like it there’s plenty of alternative Christian churches that are fine with contraception.
Or flush religion and live life the way you want to live it.
Couldn’t agree more on the silly outfits!
21 Jag. No need to flush religion to live life the way I want. I’m really happy with life as is. (pesky religion and all)
#22–linus==you say: “No need to flush religion to live life the way I want.” /// How do you handle having different views than your religion?
The Pope will tell you that if you believe in contraception you are not a Catholic. No room for disagreement with God’s representative on earth. Don’t actually know if contraception is not one of those base tenents or if you can repent everytime you think for yourself.
Now, if your church actually doesn’t believe in anything except your donations, then Amen!
Otherwise, it is relevant to note that formal religion stays alive through the hypocrisy of the rank and file==in the congregation as well as the leadership.
Its a saving grace.
Do the members of his church even pay attention to what he says on this topic?
If they do they may be the last of Christians left before the Mullahs kill the rest of the West off.
What does he have to worry about? Little boys can’t get pregnant.
Hey, #5 post, let’s think about this. Do the players always make the rules? While this makes sense on a certain level, in reality the rule makers are generally NOT the players. If they were, game play would get chaotic and the game would only end when the players got sick of playing. If the players made the rules, the soliders would eventually come home and send the old men out to war. There’s a reason why we’re better off having the old ruling the young.
This pope really scares me. I have yet to see a photo or video of this guy where his eyes show the love he should have in his heart. With John Paul you could see he had love for his world, with the ‘Rat’ all I see is fear and ambition. I guess religous leaders are no different from political leaders. That the pope is against contraception is no big surprise. What is disappointing is like when a 12 y.o. girl in some 3rd world country gets pregnant through rape and the pope won’t make an exception to the dogma so she can abort.
Christ would have thrown this guy and his team out of the temple.
Bobbo,
It isn’t about ones relationship with the pope, it is about ones relationship with God. I imagine (as millions do) that just because there is a representative “making the rules” doesn’t mean that he trumps ones own feelings about God.
The pope isn’t really relative anymore and hasn’t been for a long time. Maybe that is shifting the Catholic Church slowly rather than some crazy uprising.