When I have a break from work I want to reprise some forgotten history of how the Catholic Church arrived at its ban on all birth control methods except periodic abstinence. After Vatican II and the passing of Pope John XXIII, the next Pope, Paul VI had to make a ruling on the use of the birth control pill– a new discovery that was shaking up society and gender relations. ‘The Pill’ was invented by a Catholic doctor, who thought that the Pope would approve its use.

The Church created a beautiful religious philosophy that overlooks the misuses of power in marriage, the suffering of women when they cannot control conception, the desolation of children orphaned by death in childbirth, the despair of mothers and fathers who cannot feed their children. The Catholic world is not known for shining a bright light of care and regard for children, or high respect for women. This is not intended as disrespect to the good Catholics who do reflect the best of their faith. But Catholics collectively are human beings– no more or less saintly than the rest of us. ‘Of Human Life’ was the title of Paul VI encyclical. Human life is mostly bound by physical realities that we only occasionally transcend. There has to be a place for mercy. To impose a moral standard that most will fail, and then collaborate with secular powers to block the choices of ordinary people is the way of the Church. To acknowledge that there are some people who cannot meet that standard, and that it can be a moral act to try to control the harm that might result is a radical departure.

William Saletan in Slate.com has a post on this…

This isn’t an endorsement of condoms. It’s more than that. It’s an explication of the morality of condom use. It’s an analysis of how prophylactic sexual conduct can honor the principles—responsibility, care for one’s partner, enduring moral standards—in whose name Humanae Vitae denounced contraception.

Benedict’s concession applies only to disease prevention. But it shakes the foundations of the church’s injunction against contraception.

There are religions that endorse birth control as a moral act of love and responsibility. The majority of married couples in the US use birth control and the institution of marriage continues to exist. Marriage may be sacred, but it never reached escape velocity from earth’s gravity. Jesus said that there is no marriage in heaven– it’s something for our imperfect, material life.

The Pope’s words will mark a breach in the wall between a spiritual conception of human life, and the need for mercy and respect for the realities of the physical world.