Condoms and the Catholic church: a short history

For the past 42 years the church has shackled itself to a dogma that many of its adherants have simply ignored.

No papal decree has been more flouted in the last half century than its repeated insistence that artificial birth control is morally wrong and sinful and none has alienated – or been ignored by – more Roman Catholics.

Many religious organisations have opposed birth control. Muslims and Jews don’t like it either, and the Church of England only revised its opinion in the 1930s to enable family planning within marriage. Originally…>more.
foto:Jaume d’Urgell,flickr.com

Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, life, politics, Religion, society, theology, Birth control, Catholic Church, Church of England, condom, condoms, Family planning, hiv, Moral, pope, Pope Benedict XVI, rome, Sex, vatican

Pope unlikely to grant bishop’s request to be reinstated

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI will meet a German bishop who resigned in April following allegations that he hit children, but is unlikely to consider the bishop’s request to be reinstated, the Vatican said Wednesday (June 16).

Bishop Walter Mixa, who admitted to striking children in the 1970s and ’80s, told the German daily Die Welt he had been pressured into signing a resignation letter and now wants his old job back. > more.
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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Jesus, life, Religion, theology, augsburg, Germany, Mixa, pope, vatican

Even atheists should welcome Benedict’s visit

Despite his uncuddly image, the pope has a message for believers and deniers alike.

You know the world’s natural order has settled down again when the Free Church of Scotland has voiced its disapproval of a papal visitation.

Several months have elapsed since it was announced that Benedict XVI would be embarking on a pilgrimage to Britain, yet in vain have I waited for them to denounce this man of perdition. There hasn’t even been a reference to the whore of Rome, nor hint of Beelzebub’s Footstool. In the name of the half-shut tabernacle door, what has been afflicting the Free Kirk, my favourite other Christian denomination? > more.
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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Jesus, life, politics, Religion, theology, atheism, catholic, England, ethics, great britain, Moral, pope, scotland, vatican

Pope’s UK visit will not be affected by Foreign Office memo, Vatican says

Vatican notes apology and says document mocking Catholic church will have no impact on Benedict XVI’s visit.

The pope’s visit to Britain will not be affected by the leak of a memo from a Foreign Office brainstorming session that mocked the Catholic church, the Vatican said today.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi noted the Foreign Office apology and said the paper would have “absolutely” no impact on Benedict XVI’s visit in September, an official said. > more.
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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Jesus, life, politics, Religion, theology, Uncategorized, England, gb, great britain, pope, rome, uk, united kingdom, vatican

Full text of the pope’s letter to the Catholics of Ireland on child sex abuse

‘In order to recover from this grievous wound, the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenceless children’

The Vatican issued a pastoral letter from the pope to the Catholics of Ireland today, addressing the scandal of child sex abuse by priests and its concealment by church leaders. What follows is the full text. > more.

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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Jesus, life, politics, Religion, theology, abuse, ireland, pastoral letter, pope, sexual abuse, vatican

A Pilgrim’s Lack of Progress

It was nice that Pope Benedict XVI visited a mosque in Jordan and professed his “deep respect” for Islam. I’m glad he’s going to Yad Vashem, the profoundly moving memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. But overall, I’ve been underwhelmed so far by this papal pilgrimage to the Middle East–only the second such visit ever to Israel. > mehr.

Also watch (German):

Papst – Große Erwartungen an Besuch in Israel (Video)

 

picture: howie_berlin,flick.com

Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Islam, Jesus, jewish, jews, Koran, life, Muslim, Muslims, politics, Religion, theology, Gaza, israel, middle east, pope

Why The Pope Can’t Help Middle Eastern Christians

Ever since the year 1204 AD, when the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade sacked the Christian city of Constantinople instead of “liberating” Jerusalem from Muslim rule, Christians in the Middle East have been understandably wary of emissaries of Rome. Today, as Christians in the Middle East prepare for the arrival of Pope Benedict on his first trip to the Holy Land, many are worried that the unpredictable pontiff might stir up passions at a time by religious strife and political cold war.  > mehr.

also read (german):
Papstbesuch in Israel: Auf dem heiklen Stuhl

Bild: howie_berlin,flick.com

Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Islam, Jesus, jewish, jews, Koran, life, Muslim, Muslims, politics, Religion, theology, catholic, Gaza, israel, middle east, Palestine, pope

The off-message pontiff

If there is one leader on earth who ought to be sending out clear and unequivocal messages, then it is surely the pope. Yet, once again, the signals from Benedict and the Vatican this week have been oddly confusing. In his written clarification of the pope’s remarks aboard the plane taking him to Africa, his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, explained that the church’s policy was to concentrate on educating people in sexual responsibility, and that it did not believe that “aiming essentially at the wider diffusion of condoms was really the best, most far-sighted or efficient way to combat Aids”. > more.
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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, Faith, god, Islam, Jesus, jews, Koran, life, Muslim, Muslims, politics, Religion, theology, Africa, aids, church, condoms, death, hiv, morality, pope, protestant, protestants, Sex, sexuality

Pope stirs up Jewish fury over bishop

“The Vatican is reinstating a British priest who denies millions died at the hands of the Nazis. - Tension between the Vatican and Jewish groups looked set to explode yesterday after Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated a British bishop who has claimed no Jews died in gas chambers during the second world war.” > more.

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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Islam, Jesus, jewish, jews, life, Muslim, Muslims, politics, Religion, theology, holocaust, katholic, pope

Pope Addresses Secularism in France

“PARIS — In his first visit to France as pope on Friday, Benedict XVI touched on central themes of his papacy — the tensions between faith and reason and church and state, as well as his efforts to reach out to Muslims and Jews — and urged an increasingly irreligious Europe to look back to its intellectual roots in Christian monastic culture. ” > more.

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Filed under: bible, christian, christianity, church, Faith, god, Jesus, life, politics, theology, katholic, katholics, paris, pope, sarkozy