Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

VATICAN CITY — More than 50 dissident Catholic groups from around the world have written an open letter asking Pope Benedict XVI to lift the church's ban on birth control.

Taking a half-page ad in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, the groups said Friday that the Church's ban on artificial birth control has had "catastrophic effects," particularly in the fight against AIDS.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the accusation was "clearly unfounded" and insisted the Church is active in combating AIDS.

The groups published their appeal on the 40th anniversary of the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae" ("On Human Life") _ the document issued by Pope Paul VI that prohibits Catholics from using artificial contraception.

The initiative was spearheaded by Catholics for Choice, a Washington based pro-choice advocacy group, but the letter was signed by organizations from countries across the Americas and Europe.

The ban on contraception "has had catastrophic effects on the poor and weak of the whole world, putting in danger the lives of women and exposing millions of people to the risk of contracting HIV," the letter published in Corriere said.

It urged Benedict to begin a "reform process," saying that, especially in poor countries, the Church was using its influence to block family planning programs and condom distributions.

Lombardi denounced the ad "as paid propaganda for the use of contraceptives."

"Policies against AIDS based mainly on the distribution of condoms have largely failed," Lombardi said in a statement. "The answer to AIDS requires deeper and more complex interventions, in which the Church is active on many fronts."

Comments

[Donnat]

The earth is reaching an unsustainable human population. Once starvation and endless wars for water and food become common place, life will cease to become sacred. Why doesn't the church be ahead of the curve for once and change their position before we get to that point?

[gotborked]

A truth remains a truth even if a person calls it a lie.

Church teaching aspires to articulate the truth, even when living by that truth becomes hard or unpopular.

The Church believes that truth is timeless--what was true of human nature a hundred years ago remains true today. Just because a certain wrongful action is more difficult to avoid today than it was yesterday, that doesn't make the action less wrong. It just means we have to put that much more effort into avoiding that particular wrong--not that we should give up and call the wrong a right.

These groups can go ahead and do whatever actions they want, whether they be wrong or right. The Church isn't forcing them to do anything. But the Church, just like anyone else, shouldn't be forced to say something is good when it has reasoned that it is bad.

[LorettaSingbiel]

"Just because a certain wrongful action is more difficult to avoid today than it was yesterday, that doesn't make the action less wrong. It just means we have to put that much more effort into avoiding that particular wrong"

Did the CATHOLIC CHURCH for TWO THOUSAND YEARS put MORE effort into avoiding "that particular wrong" of PRIESTLY PEDOPHILIA ... or put MORE effort into COVERING UP "that particular wrong"?

The SANCTIMONIOUS Catholic Church is in NO POSITION to claim MORAL superiority!!!

[gotborked]

Yes, some Catholic people committed grave wrongs. And these grave wrongs were also against Church teaching.

That's the point. Church teaching attempts to articulate the moral ideal, and then Catholics attempt to live up to the ideal. Pretty much no one does completely (i.e., we're all sinners). These pedophiles and the officials who tried to cover it up obviously did not live up to the moral ideal. But the moral ideal did not change.

[gotborked]

If these people don't want to follow church teaching they don't have to. Nobody is forcing them to conform to Church teaching. And yet, they want to force Church teaching to conform to their moral outlook.

The Church says its teaching on morality is based in reason and natural law principles. Essentially, Catholic teaching is an explanation of an ideal. A change in a particular individual or group's moral outlook cannot change a moral ideal.

[andhakari]

It's great to see Catholics standing up to the pope on birth control. Many, if not most, have been ignoring him (them?) for many years in private, but it takes guts to speak out when your church may well expell you.

[LorettaSingbiel]

"it takes guts to speak out when your church may well expell you".

I doubt they can AFFORD to expell their "cafeteria" Catholics.

[LittleGirl]

I find it odd that the Pope is still saying no birth control. Doesn't Italy have one of the lowest birth rates in Europe? And, the lowest mass attendance in Europe? Seems odd that they would not allow birth control because surely Italians are still having sex, right? If they are like the rest of the human race, they aren't listening to the Pope and ARE definitely using birth control or they would have a higher birth rate. That's the problem with the church, requiring celibate unmarried priests that have no clue what a marriage or birth control is all about. Or the costs of raising a child. Watch as the church becomes more and more irrelevant.

[helonias]

All together now

Every sperm is sacred

Every sperm is great

If any sperm gets wasted

God gets quite irate

[SouthpawSass]

The Church should be more concerned with increasing its member enrollment if it has any chance of a future. Ceaseing its ban on birth control will only help sustain itself.

[ManyColored]

One would hope, although it is not a realistic one, that the Catholic Church could at least move up into the 18th century, when questions about excess population and women's rights began to be addressed. There are currently at least 10-12 times too many people currently living in the world today than it can support with any reasonable standard of living for everyone; the same can be said for the environmental problems humans have created which will never be fixed unless population reduction takes place, regardless of any current or future technologies. And the prevalence of fundamentalist patriarchal religions that treat women as second-class citizens, regardless of their official positions on women's rights, is a problem that will not go away. The Catholic Church needs to come to its senses, and frankly, I do not see this happening.

[bannorhill]

One would hope the Catholic Church would continue to preach the word of god. They have addressed birth control and you do not agree.

it is not the church's job to tell god what the people want. Aaron tried to give the people what they wanted when Moses went up Mount Sinai. It resulted is idol worship, orgies... It is the job of the church to tell the people what god says. Moses brought down the 10 Commandments. They are not subject to the whims or feeling of the people.

I hope the Pope continues to speak for God and not for the latest opinion survey on NBC news.

[huffnpuffn]

How many Brazillians do you think it takes to equal the per capita consumption and waste of one American? The problem isn't too many people. It's too many of the wrong kind of people.

[ManyColored]

I'm not talking about American standard of living; I'm talking about a standard of living with common goals attainable; a dwelling; proper medical treatment; the right kind of diet; a minimal effect on the environment; an education; some means of conveyance (not expensive cars); enough money to bring up a family of two children; a proper job. Your mentality is the old refrain you always get from Catholics and those who like large families. You'll still be in denial when we're standing on each others shoulders and the biological diversity will be practically zero with no green space. You think living in poverty is the right kind of people?? Try it sometime.

[thatsitfortheotherone]

The problem with Christianity in general and Catholicism specifically, is that they do a shi tty job of explaining the physical universe, and paradoxically, an even worse job with the metaphysical realm.

For example: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day."

---- Uh, no Slobkins, that's just effing wrong. Incorrect. Score a big, fat zero for how we got here. Next.

As for the spiritual world, hundreds and hundreds of pages of disparate gibberish, allowing any interpretation imaginable, and justifying the wondrous as well as the heinous.

I mean, cook it down and about the only clear words on how to live are the 10 Commandments. And four of them are wasted on god telling you what a stud he is. Two more on how bad pus sy is for you. Hey, I'm glad my neighbor covets my wife and my ass, er, horse, er my 325 horses derived form 24 valves and variable timing of same in a flat six. Which leaves the whole religion summed up by prohibitions on stealing, lying and killing -- which I can write in one sentence (and believe in wholeheartedly).

Christians: taken for a ride for 200 years.

[j0hnwi11iams]

I want to thank the pope for motivating me to abanson the church as arcane and irrelevent.

[TazExprez]

I am a Roman Catholic and was taught in Catholic school that the some of the Bible is literal and some of it is not. The parts that are not literal are meant to teach religious truths. God told us to be fruitful, but that was probably to a certain extent. Maybe God wanted us to have someone to take care of us when we were too old to work. Back in ancient times there were probably few or no pension plans, and such. Now we have several retirement plans available and don't have to rely on our kids. Also, God wanted us to be married before having sex, since the birth control methods from ancient times were probably less reliable than the current ones. Also, since there were no condoms when the Bible was written, contracting sexual diseases was not preventable, so God was probably intending to protect us from these by telling us to have sex with only one person. Times have changed and we have more control over diseases and child birth, thanks to God. God has blessed us with intelligence and creativity, which have helped us get over some issues from our past. Now that we have pensions, condoms, and many birth control methods, I think the Church should get with the times.

[MizLiz]

I'm a "cafeteria catholic" myself, and I make no apologies for it. The world has changed tremendously since the Middle Ages, and no celibate man is going to tell me how many children I will have, or when, or if. Sorry 'bout that. One priest told me that the last resort for any Catholic is their own conscience. mine is clear, so that's that.

Being said, it's a crime what's going on in these pooor countries. These women keep having one pregnancy after another, their health is being ruined, and the kids are suffering. "Abstinence" is NOT going to work in mpst countries. The men won't stand for it, and the wives have precious little options available.

[liberal1976]

This is one of the reasons why I quit being a Catholic. I got sick of the church trying to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own body. Who the hell do they think they are anyway?! Like I'm going to give a sh** what they say. By the way this doesn't exclude many other religions poking their noses in where it doesn't belong. My gosh people wake up and think for yourself. In case you haven't heard this isn't the dark ages even though were on the fast track of going back there.

[Tages72]

He won't listen. Benedict XVI was elected after years of positioning himself as John Paul II's successor. During his long tenure, John Paul packed the Vatican with strictly conservative Cardinals in order to insure their control of the church long after both he and Benedict were gone.

These men don't understand that most Catholics tend to have their cake and eat it too. At least three women I know attend church every week and are what the Pope calls "highly devoted." Yet, these same women went to to see the "Sex and the City" feature film as soon as it came out and did not head towards confession afterwards.

Something doesn't quite wash there...

The Catholic church is pretty much being run like the U.S. right now. Ignoring its faults as problems increase and "consumer" loyalty plummets. It will take a gutsy Pope to recognize the various social mores the church has condemned for so long and accept them for what are, will be, and always have been.

[SilviaMaria]

As a Catholic I believe in birth control, I have not problem with abortion and divorce, or priests getting married; I believe that women should be ordained as well and that there is nothing wrong with gay marriages. I stopped listening to the Pope way back in my teens when I lived in Spain. I just wish everybody did the same.

[crowepps]

I have no problem with the Catholic Church or the Pope believing that birth control is wrong. Religious freedom gives them the right to believe anything they want. I have a big problem with them trying to get the laws changed to help them enforce those beliefs however. If they can't even persuade their own followers to live by their rules, it isn't the business of government to help them force those rules on everybody in the country. In America, the government isn't supposed to be enforcing religious edicts of any kind.

[gotborked]

...I wouldn't exactly call these people their followers.