Darth Benedict speaks again

[lindentreeisle]

Nothing personal, Catholics, but your church leaders are total assholes. Very sarcastic and angry article which I agree with:
So who gets excommunicated for the 80,000 women who die from illegal abortion every year - and the 80,000-plus fetuses that die with them? Anti-abortion laws kill women, and don’t prevent the termination of pregnancies.

Comments

[mistressrenet]

This tension has been going on in the church for quite some time, and there are a lot of people leaving the church in droves over it. There have been massive losses in Latin America (in part due to the priest shortage and the demise of Liberation Theology), North America and Europe, and there are two camps: the camp that thinks the church needs to reach out, and the camp that wants to pull in, be 'strong', and let the rest of the world go to hell (pretty much literally in their view). Guess where the Rat comes from.

[lindentreeisle]

GEE I WONDER.

I read a survey (not sure how accurate it is) that said some ridiculously high number of young people in Brazil believe that they'll be fuckin' whoever they like and using condoms, thank you very much. Which is somewhat reassuring. But still.

[mistressrenet]

That's their challenge-- they're facing irrelevancy.

[theemdash]

The great thing about the RCC is, they say they want no abortions- but they also don't want anybody using birth control.

I just want to clarify that there is a distinction between the RCC and the current pope. Not using birth control is not church law, it's something that appeared in a papal epistle, not while the pope was speaking on behalf of the church, but while he was commenting on his own beliefs.

Actually I don't think that any of the "sex rules" are actual church doctrine (except about adultery, which technically is interpreted to more than just sex); I believe they have all been issued in papal epistles which are not church law.

And to be clear, I'm not happy with the pope or the epistles that have been issued, but there is a difference between the RCC and the pope that people aren't aware of.

[lindentreeisle]

Hmm...I thought papal epistles WERE church law. I am sorry I was ignorant of this. :( So how exactly is church law formulated, as opposed to the epistles? What's the relationship between dogma generally and church law? And what's the distinction between an epistle and a pope speaking ex cathedra?

The pope is still an ass though. And I still tend to lump the upper leadership in there too, because they KNEW what a hardass he was when they elected him.

[theemdash]

The pope is an ass and I'm way too tired to answer the rest of that.

I'll try to when I'm feeling better.

[lindentreeisle]

Aw. :( Poor unwell Em. *huggles*