...says a news story from Rome and I for one will be glad to have it confirmed, and to see the ceremony take place in Rome in this Year of Faith. Paul VI was a truly good and holy man, and one who suffered: his years fulfilling Peter's task were a sort of crucifixion for him. After the widespread opposition and denouncing of Humanae Vitae he must have felt horribly alone. And yet how true and prophetic and courageous that Encyclical was: today, we are watching Europe destroying itself: whole nations threatened with quiet, miserable, drawn-out disappearance, a refusal of new life, a big "No!" to the future by the simple and ghastly refusal to have children. Paul VI spoke with wisdom and dignity and valour. I remember, some time in the mid-1970s, recieving a letter from a priest who ended "...pray for the Holy Father in his Gethsemane."
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4 comments:
How can you talk of a "simple and ghastly refusal to have children"? Couples make decisions about family size which must take in many factors: finances, space, limitations due to other commitments, sheer energy required to bring up children etc, etc. These things are not simple and I do not see which considering them should be thought ghastly.
"Pope Paul VI: to be declared Blessed..."
About time too!
That encyclical is one of the best proofs there is of the dogma of Papal infallibility. It was a minority opinion, and it's not even clear that the Pope himself really supported it. But it's what he wrote.
Anonymous - what Joanna means is that we're told we must have things. A nice car for a man, a glamorous and fulfilling career for a woman, lots of entertainment for both sexes. Children get in the way of this lifestyle. So people refuse to have them, being told by government and the media that they're being responsible, good citizens for so doing.
It's not that anyone has actually decided on such a policy. It's just that governments see a baby as an immediate burden on the taxpayer, universities see a pregnant student as a disaster, employers as an inconvenience, advertisers as a distraction from the real business of consuming. Then there's a legitimate (but over-simplified and poorly expressed) concern about total world population.
It all adds up to a campaign against children.
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