Posted on 09/10/2022 11:46:07 AM PDT by ebb tide
The 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 over by Bishop Vincenzo Paglia, 77, a prominent figure of the Community of Sant’Egidio.
This, at least, is the severe judgment on the latest theological product of the academy formulated by two first-rate scholars such as Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller, former prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, and Professor Stephan Kampowski, full professor of philosophical anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.
Falling under their criticism is the volume, edited by Paglia and published this summer by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, “Theological ethics of life. Scripture, tradition, practical challenges,” which collects the proceedings of a seminar held by the academy and proposes “a revolution of Catholic morality” that subverts the teaching of Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” which defined artificial contraception as morally illicit.
But so far nothing new. Right after its publication in 1968 “Humanae Vitae” was already being contested and rejected not only by ranks of theologians but by entire episcopal conferences.
The innovation would instead be – in the judgment of Müller and Kampowski – precisely in the irrationality of the thesis maintained today by the Pontifical Academy for Life, which states it is in agreement with the teaching of “Humanae Vitae” and at the same time affirms the opposite, namely that artificial contraception can be morally licit, as this is held to be, beyond the letter, “the deeper intention” of Paul VI’s encyclical.
It is not clear whether Pope Francis shares this thesis or not. However, he is allowing it to be upheld by an important institute of the Holy See, and his hints on the matter are not lacking in ambiguity.
It is true that he has always said that he admires Paul VI more than any other pope of the last century. But in one of his first wide-ranging interviews, with “Corriere della Sera” of March 5 2014, when asked about “Humanae Vitae” he replied that “all of this depends on how Humanae Vitae is interpreted,” since “the question is not that of changing the doctrine but of going deeper and seeing to it that pastoral care takes situations into account.”
Moreover, Pope Francis very often bends in support of the changes he hopes for – most recently in his conversation with the Jesuits of Canada published by “La Civiltà Cattolica” – the ancient saying of St. Vincent of Lérins according to which even dogma “progresses, being consolidated over the years, developed with time, deepened with age.”
In short, there are already those in the Church who reckon that the outcomes of the synod on synodality sponsored by the pope – open as it is to the most varied and reckless proposals for innovation – could even include that of moving past the doctrine of “Humanae Vitae.”
But let’s get back to the essay by Cardinal Müller and Professor Kampowski. It is thorough and well argued, with a rich assortment of notes, and can be read in its entirety, for the first time in Italian, on this other page of Settimo Cielo:
> Andare oltre l’osservanza letterale della legge
While in English it has been online since August 27 on the American site “First Things”:
> Going beyond the letter of the law
The following is its very brief “incipit,” which ends precisely by denouncing the irrationality of the thesis upheld by the Pontifical Academy for Life, which is none other than “to state the opposite of the teaching, while at the same time claiming that one agrees.” Entirely the opposite of the Aristotelian principle of non-contradiction.
*
GOING BEYOND THE LETTER OF THE LAW
The Pontifical Academy for Life challenges the teachings of “Humanae Vitae” and “Donum Vitae”
by Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Stephan Kampowski
In the recent volume “Etica teologica della vita. Scrittura, tradizione, sfide pratiche” (Theological Ethics of Life. Scripture, Tradition, Practical Challenges), the Pontifical Academy for Life proposes a revolution of Catholic sexual morality, suggesting that, given the right attitudes on the part of spouses, the practice of contraception and homologous artificial procreation can be morally licit, thus directly contradicting the Church’s magisterium as found, for instance, in Pope Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (1968), in Pope John Paul II’s encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (1995), and in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s instructions “Donum Vitae” (1987) and “Dignitatis Personae” (2008). The revolution relates to both the content and the way of arguing.
In what follows we will present a critical analysis of the book’s section that makes these claims. Closer inspection is necessary because the text is more subtle than simply saying that “Humanae Vitae” (as the magisterium’s basic document on contraception) or “Donum Vitae” (as the magisterium’s basic document on artificial reproductive technologies) have gotten it wrong. The authors maintain that by proposing the possible moral liceity of contraception and artificial procreation, they are not going against, but simply beyond the letter of previous ecclesial documents, ultimately bringing to fulfillment the deepest intentions of these magisterial texts. Here we are dealing with a novelty. In previous times, people who did not agree with the teaching of “Humanae Vitae” or “Donum Vitae” simply said that they begged to differ and gave their reasons. The new approach, adopted by the Pontifical Academy for Life text, is in fact to state the opposite of the teaching, while at the same time claiming that one agrees. […]
Ping
Hopefully,the next conclave they will vote for someone who actually likes the Catholic Church....unlike Frankie
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