UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
* Pope Francis is following his own advice and “creating a mess” over contraception. He was provoked by seeing in the Philippines the horrors of 1.5 million “street children”, many forced to work in Manila’s key “industry”, the child sex trade, that became inescapably evident on his recent trip. Since two modern popes condemned contraception, Francis is also undermining the increasingly incredible Vatican claim since 1870 that popes are infallible.
* This infallibility claim is the cornerstone of modern papal power. Is the pope intentionally trying to curtail future papal power? Whatever his intent, the more he pushes for his contraception ban in the face of overwhelming scientific and social evidence, the clearer it becomes that claiming personal infallibility makes popes appear weaker, not stronger. This is evident in the Pope Francis’ rambling and evasive answers to reporters on his return flight to Rome. By comparison to the mishandling of contraception, Pope Francis is making the condemnation of Galileo four centuries ago seem like a minor matter.
* Understandably, a visibly tired and frustrated Pope Francis said yesterday (1/19/15) in response to a reporter’s question that good Roman Catholics do not need to breed like “rabbits”, but should practice “responsible” parenting instead. The full question and answer is below. To see the pope’s evident frustration , please watch
* [BBC]
* The day before (1/18/15) I had e-mailed key Vatican reporters (and posted on my blog) this: “And yes, … , Pope Francis, as expected, continued to push the papal “Rabbit Rule” (Breed & Breed More!) of Popes Pius XI (1930) and Paul VI (1968), and all popes thereafter. As discussed below, this is tied to protecting the papal “power of infallibility” and appears still to be the cornerstone of the Vatican’s key moral ‘doctrine of procreative sex, ONLY’ “. This repeated my earlier statement on the Rabbitt Rule at Francis’ Breeding Policy Fails Kids, Women & Gay
* The pope, of course, is revisiting the classic struggle of twenty years ago of Hillary Clinton and Francis’ current top female adviser, Mary Ann Glendon. The pope and Mary Ann Glendon appear to be gearing up to take Hillary Clinton on again in the upcoming US presidential election. Please see Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015 ? If the pope reverses the ban on contraception, the “infallibility” dogma is likely finished for all practical purposes. If the pope fails to reverse the ban, the Vatican will likely lose many millions of more Catholics who leave the Church, especially women.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.