Posted on 12/09/2015 3:54:06 PM PST by ebb tide
We will avoid editorializing on whether the Church has "never been against birth control" as this type of statement is simply a symptom of the horrific state of modern religious formation. Prelates and priests preach incorrect ideas, sadly, on a daily basis. They are not infallible -- even on issues of faith and morals.
The primary issue is, once again, that Pope Francis led the way to this thinking, both in the insensitive and simple-minded way he lambasted large Catholic families (see here) and in his fixation on climate change (see here).
Cue Peter Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Francis' lead on so-called climate issues, on why Catholics should shun accepting God's will in order to save Mother Earth:
From the BBC:
COP21: Cardinal says birth control may offer climate 'solution'
One of the Catholic Church's most senior prelates has said that birth control could "offer a solution" to the impacts of climate change.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Pope's leading adviser on climate issues, told the BBC that the Church had never been against natural family planning.
Speaking in Paris, the cardinal called for a strong agreement that would protect the most vulnerable nations.
He said climate change was a looming ecological disaster.
Cardinal Turkson is believed to have played a significant role in the drafting of "Laudato Si", the Pope's encyclical on climate change.
Mouths to feed
The Catholic Church has recently adopted a more active role on the issue, encouraging churchgoers to join global climate marches before the start of COP21. The Church has also increased its engagement with the UN climate negotiation process itself, here in Le Bourget.
In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, Cardinal Turkson suggested that birth control could help alleviate some of the impacts of climate change, particularly the lack of food in a warmer world.
"This has been talked about, and the Holy Father on his trip back from the Philippines also invited people to some form of birth control, because the church has never been against birth control and people spacing out births and all of that. So yes, it can offer a solution," he said.
"Having more mouths to feed is a challenge for us to be productive also, which is one of the key issues being treated over here, the cultivation and production of food, and its distribution.
"So yes it engages us in food security management, so we ensure that everybody is fed and all of that. The amount of population that is critical for the realisation of this is still something we need to discover, yet the Holy Father has also called for a certain amount of control of birth."
Cardinal Turkson was at pains to stress that artificial birth control methods such as the contraceptive pill were still beyond the pale as far as the Church was concerned.
"You don't deal with one good with another evil: the Church wants people to be fed, so let's do what the Church feels is not right? That is a kind of sophistry that the church would not go for," he said.
The question of birth control has long been controversial within the Catholic Church.
The issue is especially controversial in relation to climate change. The global population of 7 billion people is expected to grow to 9.7bn by the middle of the century according to the UN. However, efforts to limit family size in developing countries have been criticised as a form of imperialism.
As well as reiterating the Church's belief in natural methods of birth control, as a way of dealing with some impacts of climate change, Cardinal Turkson said a strong agreement at the Paris climate talks would be critically important in tackling the causes of the problem.
"For us, one thing must dominate. We need to look at the front line states and what they are going through now, and in the light of concern for what they are feeling now, to simply adopt a measure that can ensure the existence of all of us.
"Our profession of love for God must necessarily lead to our love for the handwork of God, for what God has made, so let's have some love for creation and for the human beings."
And the Muslims ARE breeding like rabbits, with a passion, to populate and dominate. I wonder if they will heed his call to be careful.
“How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”-Mother Teresa
If Christians don’t start breeding like rabbits, and this whole Catholic thing doesn’t work out;
This guy could always find work as an RNC Advisor.
It’s a good thing Pope Francis doesn’t know how many children my wife and I have. Thirteen.
And they just gave us our 17th and 18th grandchildren at the end of this past summer.
As far as I can tell, none of them are bent on destroying the environment.
Maybe he just meant to get married before having children. Rabbits don’t—they have all their offspring out of wedlock.
Maybe he just meant to get married before having children. Rabbits don’t—they have all their offspring out of wedlock.
Turkson was once rumored to be the mysterious Peter the Roman at one point.
He’s certainly getting his cards from the same diabolical deck that Bergolio is.
Our problem is that Christians and those of the Western culture are NOT breeding like rabbits (28 days gestation period) or even elephants (1.5 years gestation period).
Our problem is the radical muslims who have no qualms about marrying a close family member if ordered to do so by their Iman.
Congratulations and wishing you many more grandchildren.
However, the claim that the Church has "never been against evolution" is repeated constantly by even the most conservative Catholics . . . with a straight face.
So, they are getting back around to the Population Zero of half-a-century ago.
They recycle the same old crap every few decades.
Give your “evolution” obsession a rest.
You still haven’t answered whether or not you believe Jesus Christ is God.
Bless your family.
The Pope should be talking about the need to marry the woman before having sex, staying with her to raise the children.
Illegitimacy is the norm in some European countries and common throughout the developed world.
Earth ain’t my mother honey child.
The Holy Roman Marxist World Church.
We are seeing the Republican Party turn against it’s own
conservative base, the federal government turning against
it’s own people and the Catholic church turn against their
own parishioners and in some cases god himself.
Was any of this happening before the Obama became president?
“Apparently that’s all they know how to do!!!!!”
The hispandecos are breeding like cockroaches and we are
paying for it.
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