Apparently, for the first time today, the Catholic Church has condemned abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and other misuses of sexuality and procreation, at least if the breathless reports by the mainstream media are to be believed.
What actually happened is that the Pontifical Council for the Family has released a major document summarizing the Church’s teaching entitled, “Family and Human Procreation.” Of course because every pronouncement from the Church on morality must be framed as a series of negatives, the MSM, such as the Associated Press, say something like the following:
The Vatican issued a sweeping condemnation Tuesday of contraception, abortion, in-vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage, declaring that the traditional family has never been so threatened as in today’s world.
The document was issued by the Pontifical Council for the Family, whose head, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, is a strong opponent of the use of condoms under any circumstances.
Note the characterization of Lopez Trujillo. He’s a Catholic cardinal. What a world we live in when such a stance can’t be taken for granted. This is nothing new or groundbreaking, but on a slow news day, the media has to pump it up.
The document doesn’t break new ground, but summarizes the Church’s teaching and looks at its place in contemporary society, in which it says that “Never before in history has human procreation, and therefore the family, which is its natural place, been so threatened as in today’s culture.”
The ideological and bioethical challenges facing the family
I think most attention will be paid to newer issues such as same-sex marriage, which the document addresses, but it’s the Church’s typically clear-eyed look at the causes of societal decay and impending disaster that mark this document.
New laws and political trends have created a “crisis of the family” and a severely unstable situation for the institution of marriage, the Pontifical Council says. The document cites the tendency to delay marriage, the social acceptance of extra-marital relationships, and the frequency of divorce as clear evidence of disorder. These problems have arisen, Family and Human Procreation observes, alongside several new trends in bioethics that have the same tendency to “separate sexualty from love.”
... The fundamental problem with modern ideological approaches to sexuality, the Pontifical Council for the Family argues, is the absence of reference to a loving God: a Creator who calls mankind to choose life, and whose plan is etched on the human heart. The natural law requires a responsible approach to sexuality, the document says, and sets “objective points of moral reference.”
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New Vatican document on family and procreation
Apparently, for the first time today, the Catholic Church has condemned abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and other misuses of sexuality and procreation, at least if the breathless reports by the mainstream media are to be believed.
What actually happened is that the Pontifical Council for the Family has released a major document summarizing the Church’s teaching entitled, “Family and Human Procreation.” Of course because every pronouncement from the Church on morality must be framed as a series of negatives, the MSM, such as the Associated Press, say something like the following:
Note the characterization of Lopez Trujillo. He’s a Catholic cardinal. What a world we live in when such a stance can’t be taken for granted. This is nothing new or groundbreaking, but on a slow news day, the media has to pump it up.
The document doesn’t break new ground, but summarizes the Church’s teaching and looks at its place in contemporary society, in which it says that “Never before in history has human procreation, and therefore the family, which is its natural place, been so threatened as in today’s culture.”
The ideological and bioethical challenges facing the family
Technorati Tags:abortion, bioethics, Catholic, contraception, family, procreation, stem cells, Vatican
I think most attention will be paid to newer issues such as same-sex marriage, which the document addresses, but it’s the Church’s typically clear-eyed look at the causes of societal decay and impending disaster that mark this document.
COMMENTS
The response from the MSM could have been worse—like ignoring it altogether.
Posted by David L Alexander on 06/6/06 at 01:56 PM
The document is not online yet.
Posted by Domenico Bettinelli on 06/7/06 at 12:19 PM
Comments are being moderated. After you submit your comment it could take up to a couple hours, but usually only a few minutes, before it will appear. Thank you for your patience. If you have any questions, you may contact Domenico Bettinelli.