Mortal Sins of the Vatican

by Joyce Arthur

Snips 

Is the Vatican willing to sacrifice humanity in its attempt to protect its own power base in the world? This article examines the role of the Catholic Church in bringing an overpopulated world to the brink of disaster because of its influential and far-reaching agenda against family planning, contraception, and abortion.

"We do not need population control, and any effort at safe sex is totally, utterly immoral from top to bottom." ---Rev. James Reuter, Office of Mass Media, Catholic Church of the Philippines

"[The Pope's] teachings and policies on birth control can no longer be seen merely as the business of Catholics ... [they] could now instead lead to the death of us all." --- Georgie Anne Geyer, columnist, Dallas Morning News, August 10, 1993.

Curse of the Infallibility Dogma

"The only way to solve the problem of contraception is to solve the problem of infallibility." --- Hans K|ng, liberal Catholic Theologian, 1979

The availability of contraception and safe, legal abortion is critical to successful world population control. Pope John Paul II's immutability on these two issues can be traced back to 1870, and the Vatican Council I. Two new dogmas were proclaimed at Vatican Council I by Pope Pius IX, a man considered by many to be mentally ill. The first was the dogma of papal infallibility, which means that the pope is incapable of error when he makes decisions on matters of faith and morals. The second was the dogma of papal primacy, which gave the pope universal jurisdiction over the entire church, reducing bishops to lackeys of the Pope.

The foundation of today's Catholic Church rests on the infallibility doctrine. In 1980, in a letter to the German Bishops' Conference, Pope John Paul II wrote: "I am convinced that the doctrine of infallibility is in a certain sense the key to the certainty with which the faith is confessed and proclaimed, as well as to the life and conduct of the faithful. For once the essential foundation is shaken or destroyed, the most basic truths of our faith likewise begin to break down."

The Church has put its infallibility and authority on the line with contraception and abortion, both of which are immoral and evil, according to official Church teachings. The 1930 Church encyclical On Christian Marriage pronounced all abortion to be murder, and contraception a "crime against nature."

By the 1960's, it was becoming obvious to many in the world that overpopulation was a real global threat. This awareness, combined with a growing recognition of women's rights, the development of effective means of artificial contraception, and the public health disaster of illegal abortion, contributed to a widespread trend to liberalize laws against contraception and abortion.

The Catholic Church was not immune to the moral power of these social movements. In 1964, Pope Paul VI (possibly the most socially progressive pope of this century) authorized a Commission on Population and Birth Control to see if he could find a way to change the Church's position on birth control without destroying papal authority. The commission consisted of 64 lay experts and 15 cardinals and bishops. After two years of studying the dilemma, the laymen voted 60 to 4 and the clerics 9 to 6 to change the Church's teaching on birth control because it was the right thing to do, even though it would mean a loss of papal authority. The minority faction also submitted a report to the Pope. The co-author of the minority report was none other than the Archbishop of Cracow, Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul II. In his minority report, our future pope stated (or sanctioned) these words:

"If it should be declared that contraception is not evil in itself, then we should have to concede frankly that ... for half a century the [Holy] Spirit failed to protect Pius XI, Pius XII, and a large part of the Catholic hierarchy from a very serious error. This would mean that the leaders of the Church, acting with extreme imprudence, had condemned thousands of innocent human acts, forbidding, under pain of eternal damnation, a practice which would now be sanctioned. The fact can neither be denied nor ignored that these same acts would now be declared licit on the grounds of principles cited by the Protestants, which popes and bishops have either condemned or at least not approved."

Because of the grave threat to papal infallibility and authority posed by the majority's recommendation to change Church teachings on birth control, Pope Paul VI rejected the majority report, and adopted the minority report instead. In 1968, he issued his infamous encyclical, Humanae Vitae, in which he condemned almost every form of birth control as morally reprehensible.

Thus, contraception became the first serious threat to the principle of infallibility. The only way for the Church to backtrack on the issue of contraception would be to admit error, thereby destroying its divinely sanctioned infallibility, and losing much of its authority and power. The Vatican believes, probably correctly, that if solutions to the population problem were to be applied, Vatican power would soon wither and perhaps die completely. Obviously, then, the Vatican's battle against contraception and abortion rests not on moral grounds, but solely on its drive to survive as an influential political institution. And the cornerstone of the Vatican's quest for power is based, not on concern for the fate of humanity, but on its war against abortion.

Abortion -- Bedrock of the Papal Agenda

"No circumstance, no purpose, no law whatsoever can ever make licit an act which is intrinsically illicit, since it is contrary to the law of God which is written in every human heart, knowable by reason itself, and proclaimed by the church." --- Pope Paul VI on abortion, Humanae Vitae encyclical (1968)

In 1975, American Catholic bishops issued their Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities, a response not only to the NSSM 200 study, but to the legalization of abortion in the U.S. only two years before. This comprehensive blueprint laid out numerous objectives, such as:

--passing a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, giving full human rights to fetuses.

--lobbying for appointment of anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade, or at least restrict abortion legally as much as possible.

--lobbying all types of leadership (business, government, professions, academic, labour) and the media to promote public policies against abortion.

--working with non-Catholic churches to advocate the anti-abortion view.

--using the Catholic press and Catholic schools and churches to disseminate political and educational information against abortion.

With the exception of the passing of a Human Life Amendment, the bishops' pastoral plan has been largely implemented and successful.

The importance of the issue of abortion to the Catholic hierarchy cannot be underestimated. According to Timothy Byrnes, author of the 1991 book Catholic Bishops in American Politics, abortion occupies a unique position on the Catholic hierarchy's public policy agenda. Byrnes says: "Abortion is not one issue among many for the bishops. It is rather the bedrock, non-negotiable starting point from which the rest of their agenda has developed. The bishops' positions on other issues have led to political action and political controversy, but abortion ... has been a consistently central feature of the Catholic hierarchy's participation in American politics."

"The Church has the power of employing force and [of exercising] direct and indirect temporal power." --- Vatican encyclical Quata Cura, Pope Pius IX, 1864

The Church has the power to define dogmatically the religion of the Catholic Church to be the only true religion." / "No man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he believes to be true, guided by the light of reason." --- Vatican encyclical Quata Cura, Pope Pius IX, 1864

Silencing of the Press

"This pressure [of the Catholic Church on American journalism] is one of the most important forces in American life, and the only one about which secrecy is generally maintained, no newspaper being brave enough to discuss it, although all fear it and believe that the problem should be dragged into the open and made publicly known." --- George Seldes, journalist and media critic, Lords of the Press (1938)

The Vatican is against almost all the democratic principles we hold dear, including freedom of the press, freedom of association, and freedom of religion. The "infallible" Pope Pius IX branded freedom of the press as intrinsically evil, and denied it was a legitimate right. Freedom of the press, he said, "does not allow a man to print what is wrong, what is known to be false, or what is calculated to undermine and destroy the moral and religious fiber of individuals and the peace and harmony of nations." Of course, the Church has decided it is the supreme judge of what is wrong, false, and moral.

Vatican Interference at the United Nations

"Does the Vatican rule the world? The world is not here to be dictated to. And let me tell you, the delegates here represent more than five billion people in the world, and not only 190 at the Vatican." --- Maher Mahran, Egypt's minister of population, U.N. International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994

This decade has seen the United Nations become more and more involved in helping countries implement population control measures, and in promoting the education and empowerment of women in developing countries as a means to achieve these goals. The Vatican has consistently fought against these advances at United Nations conferences, denying that an overpopulation problem even exists. It also lobbies strongly against solutions to global warming, because to admit this as a serious threat would be to admit the overpopulation problem that led to it.

So relentless is the Vatican in its drive to push its agenda onto everyone else, so determined is it to retain its power and influence regardless of the cost in human suffering, that it has probably inflicted irreparable harm on the institution of the papacy. The Vatican's stance against population control measures is a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save itself from the blind alley it embarked upon in 1870, with the dogma of papal infallibility.

The Vatican is on a path to self-destruction. The question is: can we stop the Vatican before it drags the rest of the world with it?

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), August 07, 2000

Answers

Anti-Catholic screed brought to you by thr Pro-Choice Action Network, Vancouver BC and by the Imperial Knights of thr KKK, Dumptruck, LA

-- (MotherThersa@Calcutta.slum), August 07, 2000.

If The Vatican stopped opposing contraception then the need for abortions would decrease.

Sometimes it seems the need to be in the right goes before the need of humanity.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), August 07, 2000.

Seems more anti-Catholic than anti-Vatican, Debra.

-- (r@nd.h), August 07, 2000.

Not anti-Catholic screed Mother Thersa, but cold, hard facts.

Cherri,

And let's hope it's only their need to be right and not their belief in the punishment of women that's going on here.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), August 07, 2000.

--r@nd.h,

It's a long read but if you go to the link I provided you will find this there:

"The Vatican agenda against U.S. population control policy does not reflect the position of 93% of American Catholics. Almost all of these liberal Catholics, including large numbers of priests and nuns, do not support the Pope's stance against birth control, abortion, women's ordination, and many other progressive issues. Unfortunately, liberal Catholics have very little political power and influence."

It's not an anti-Catholic essay. Sorry, I should have included this snip. Thanks for pointing it out.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), August 07, 2000.

Debra:

Thanks for the addendum.

-- (r@nd.h), August 07, 2000.

They all took vows of chastity/celibacy.

If one doesn't play the game, one shouldn't be allowed to make the rules.

-- Sam (wtrmkr52@aol.com), August 07, 2000.

Debra, you dont know the half of it.

-- Ra (tion@l.1), August 07, 2000.

I was just recently speaking about this with a friend who is a very strong catholic. She *completely* disagrees with them on the issue of birth-control.

btw...not all pro-life Christians are catholic

-- cin (cin@cinn.cin), August 07, 2000.

p.s. The friend is married and has one child. But her husband is very ill and they don't want to have anymore kids, in case he should pass away and leave her to care for them. So they practice birth control.

-- cin (cin@cinn.cin), August 07, 2000.

My family as well as my in-laws are all religious Catholics. Not one of them have more than 3 kids. No-one will admit in using contraception, and no-one discusses it. But everyone uses it. Otherwise, every families would have 10-15 kids by now, as in the old days.

What one says in public and one does in private (including voting) are two different things, at times. Pope or no Pope.

-- (AmericanC@tholic.here), August 07, 2000.

I read somewhere that there are more abortions in Rome than in any other city in the world. Also, my cousin was in Italy two years ago and said they sell condoms at a shop right across from the Vatican.

And, as most of you know, there is a Pro-Choice faction of Catholics, which is a thorn in the side of TPTB. And most Catholics I know personally, practice birth control, but they don't advertise it.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 07, 2000.

I come from a Roman Catholic family also.

My grandmother had seven children. All of her children used contraception to limit their families. Everyone had 1 or 2 children with the exception of my father who had 3. Grandma ended up with a total of 12 grandchildren. NOBODY told her they used birth control.

The 12 grandchildren [my cousins, brother, sister and I,] had 18 children, 3 of which are mine. If we do the math - grandma's 7 children, 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren - that's 37 lives.

If the OTOH no one used birth control and they all reproduced as my grandmother did the result is unbelievable -

7 children X 7 children each = 49 grandchildren

49 grandchildren X 7 children each = 343 great-grandchildren!

I think the Vatican better re-think their stance on contraception. And it seems the Republican Platform better do some re-thinking too. Have they gone mad? No contraception?

I'd like to know more about what part the Vatican is playing in all of this and why they seem to hold so much power.

Ra - could you post some of what you have found? Thanks.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), August 07, 2000.

So now the pro-choice movement lashes out against the Catholic Church...as it does ANY church that stands in the way of freedom to kill offspring in the womb. Remember the mission, and you will understand the propoganda.

I again suggest that mothers to be use their own minds, and hearts. Innoncent life, your childs life. It is a gift....from God. I could care less about laws, it is your heart that matters...

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), August 07, 2000.

FactFinder,

Where do you stand on contraception?

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), August 07, 2000.

Fact Finder, I too worry about innocent lives--especially those that are already here and unwanted. What is this obsession with the unborn, yet never mentioning all the skeletal, emaciated children squatting on the ground, covered with flies in foreign countries for lack of birth control, or safe abortions. And what about the children here that are beaten, abused and even killed by uncaring or unstable parents?

You said, "I could care less about laws..." I'm sure the people who bomb abortion clinics and shoot doctors "could care less about laws" too. Obviously you only care about laws that play to your agenda and are sanctioned by your particular god. And obviously your energy is devoted to saving the unborn, and you "could care less" about those already born and needing help.

Do you realize that if every opponent of abortion, would direct their energy and attention to helping homeless, unwanted, throw-away children, that many of this countries most defenseless children would not be sent to foster homes or pushed off on relatives who may not want them.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 08, 2000.

>>Vatican Interference at the United Nations

Er, that is supposed to be a bad thing? When the powers-that-be dictate to the powers-that-are-not that their populations (and hence their power and economic base)should be diminished because we say so, whose voice says nay? In world history, larger populations go hand and hand with greater power and greater economic fortune. What we see in places like Ethiopia are unfortunately politically induced pogroms.

By the way, you might want to do a little research of your own on the entire concept of infallibility- what it really means, what its scope is, and what its history is. It did not originate with one man in 1870 (with silly throwaway, unsubstantiated murmurs of 'mental illness').

The Catholic church teaches that it is wrong to tell a lie. The fact that 93% of Catholics tell lies does not prove the teaching wrong; rather, it proves that we all sin.

Did you think that dragging 'global warming' into this dribble would somehow give it a panache of respectability, as though the tattered and aging libs, now themselves mainstreamed into the American media culture, would somehow be inspired to rush to the ramparts? It seems that in these times, the Catholic Church and Christianity in general has become the radical alternative to the Establishment.

-- Scarecrow (Somewhere@over.rainbow), August 08, 2000.

Scarecrow,

If you have something to offer on the concept of infallibility please do so. I am interested.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), August 08, 2000.

Debra,

Thanks so much for this article. It goes right to the heart of what I am studying and pondering these days as a recovering Roman Catholic. In a like vein, here's a link to an article about how a group of Australian bishops came to the conclusion that Catholic culture itself leads to clerical sexual abuse against women and children.

I wrote to the Australian Catholic Bishops's Conference for this report, but was told it has been been suppressed. No surprise there. The Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy keep the truth strictly secret.

Making decisions in the open and giving publicity to one's conclusions is a noble ideal of a democratic society. In contrast, the Vatican utilizes secrecy and lies to keep the truth about its own infallibility hidden. Secrecy is tyranny. Most Catholics are in denial about the tyranny that the Vatican wields.

Papal infallability is a myth built upon a history of lies. Although the Vatican will not be brought down in our lifetimes, all tyrannical systems are eventually destroyed by the truth. The world is growing toward greater enlightenment while Rome languishes in a world of dark medieval punishments and "mortal sins." All of the world will eventually realize that it is not a sin to be mortal or human, and the Vatican will eventually crumble under the weight of its own deceit.

-- Celia Thaxter (celiathaxter@yahoo.com), August 08, 2000.

Celia, you have my sympathy. As a recovered Baptist, I understand your need for pondering and studying. Long after I had rejected the Baptist brainwashing, I went back to school, and along with taking courses for my degree program, I took extra courses in religion, philosopy and myth. I'm all better now.

The Catholic Church may be the elite at promoting "...myth built upon a history of lies...." but they have many worthy contenders in the other 2000 religions in the U.S. alone, that claim they are the "true religion."

I eventually forsee a time when a true enlightenment will take place, and religion will be brought down by it's own weight of myth and brainwashing, and yes, as you said, "...the world eventually realize that it is not a sin to be mortal or human..." and then many of the reasons for world wide atrocities will end.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 09, 2000.

Debra, I generally will not get into public debate on religious issues, as there is no reasoning with those of fixed positions. My Dad pulled our wing of the family out of the Catholic Church when I was 7 years old. At the time, I was most grateful to say adios to the head-thumping penguins and the 2 hour high masses that we were forced to endure on a weekly basis. As I got older there was this fascination with the Church that drove me to research.

The Catholic Church has no rival when it comes to absolute domination and forcing their will and special interests on humanity. With they're own little Delta Force (the Jesuits) they have committed more atrocities then all of histories Hitlers combined, and have been at it for way too long. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions. Pass the plate please.

-- Ra (tion@l.1), August 09, 2000.

RAtional, your dad was a smart man. Mine stayed with the Baptist church, but never attended and really had nothing to do with religion, although he didn't openly reject it. And most important, he backed me in not giving in to the "being saved" emotional blackmail trip.

In spite of our differences over road shrines, (heehee) we agree on the important issues. Yes, the Catholic Chruch is Major League when it comes to atrocities, but the Minors, and there are thousands, work at spreading the dogma night and day.

Research is what makes all the difference. "There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance." Socrates

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 12, 2000.