As a Catholic, I have thought for a long time, that the reason the church opposed birth control was that 2000 years ago, Catholicism was very much a minority. The leaders wanted their fellows to increase and multiply, to increase the overall number of Catholics and make it more difficult for political regimes to oppress the faithful.
Also, more people to provide support for the clergy.
Pretty cynical.
If your theory were right, why wouldn’t they support IVF, etc. Have you ever bothered to read what the Church actually says about it, or just listened to what the media says? Maybe you should do some reading.
Interesting you choose that phrase, it sounds pretty similar to Genesis 1:28. How terrible of Catholics to read the Bible.
And fight the wars, till the fields, man the factories, educate, serve, and influence the rest of the world, and—oh, yeah—continue the species.
The Church doesn’t compel ANYONE to obey its rules. It explains what it believes is the right course—not just for Catholics, but for humanity. Pius X came up with an even more chilling prediction when divorce was gaining sympathy:
First divorce
Then contraception
Then abortion
Then homosexuality
Then euthanasia.
I think I’ve missed a step, but surely you see the progression. Was he right? Sure looks that way.
The numbers increasing was not a factor in the early years as this was an underground movement. Birth control only really became a factor in the 1900s.
Well that is definitely not why the Catholic church holds those positions, those are just an added bonus to the real reasons that life begins at conception and sex should be saved for marriage.