Because of Pope Francis’s new openness, Catholic theologians have reopened debate on the morality of contraception
Conservatives warn that lifting the categorical ban on artificial birth control would open a Pandora’s box by contradicting the reasoning behind other prohibitions. Janet Smith, a retired professor of ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, told the conference in Rome that contraception leads to the acceptance of promiscuity, gay relationships, assisted reproductive technology and transgenderism.
The church has traditionally taught that it is wrong to prevent procreation except through abstinence from sexual intercourse. The explanations for this teaching have varied over time in accordance with developments in theology, philosophy and science, as recounted in John T. Noonan, Jr.’s book, “Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists.”
The invention of the contraceptive pill, approved for use in the U.S. in 1960, inspired new moral arguments in favor of artificial birth control, since the pill didn’t interfere with the mechanics of the sexual act itself, said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a professor of ethics at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
This current of thought has encouraged a re-evaluation of the teaching on contraception, which proponents cast as a reinterpretation rather than a repudiation of St. Paul VI.
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