Speaking at a presentation of a book on Humanae Vitae, Cardinal Mueller, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stressed Wednesday that attempts to change the Church’s teaching are “a crime against the Church.”
“The current attempt,” he said, “to put in contrast the last three Pontificates, with the pretext of imposing an heterodox teaching to the faithful is a crime against the Church and a betrayal of her mission and mandate, whose final task is that of preserving the faith authentically inherited by the apostles.”
Such ridiculous comments are evidence that Pope Francis made a superb decision when he did not reconfirm the Cardinal in his post as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Surely, Cardinal Mueller is aware of the division among the periti called by Blessed Pope Paul VI himself to offer their insights and counsel prior to the publication of Humanae Vitae.
Surely, Cardinal Mueller is aware that last minute interventions by ultra-conservative led by Cardinal Cicognani persuaded Pope Paul not to accept the recommendations of the periti who had affirmed that there are specific situations in which the use of artificial contraception was indeed justified and permissable.
Recently, the Italian theologian, Father Maurizio Chiodi, who was recently appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy of Life, published an article, “Re-read Humanae Vitae in light of Amoris Laetitia,” in the Italian Bishop Conference’s news outlet Avvenire.
The article summarized a lecture Father Chiodi gave at the Pontifical Gregorian University, as part of a series of conferences organized by the Jesuit university in Rome to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Blessed Paul VI’s encyclical.
Reiterating the findings of Blessed Pope Paul’s commission of experts, Father Chiodi stated that “there are circumstances that require the use of contraception,” because in these cases the “technical intervention does not deny the responsibility of procreative relationships.”
He also stressed that “the insistence of the Church’s Magisterium on natural methods cannot be interpreted,as a norm which is an end in itself, nor as a mere conformity with biological laws, because the norm points to an anthropology, to the good of marital responsibility.”
Cardinal Mueller, apparently ignorant of the history of the Encyclical, in fact has labeled any attempt “reinterpret” the conservative and reactionary spin given to the teaching of Humanae Vitae as somehow contrary to the very Deposit of the Faith itself.
Rubbish!
Proponents of natural family planning, which Cardinal Mueller and others who share his tunnel vision contend the only means which are morally permissable, consistently brand this method as the “only officially recognized moral means” of regulating birth. All other forms of regulating the number of children are considered (by them) to be immoral.
But Cardinal Mueller and those who share his intransigent attitudes willfully deny that it is the intention of the couple which plays the determinant role in the morality of any means they choose to limit the size of their family.
Upon its publication, then-Cardinal Wojtyla (who would become St. Pope John Paul II) made known his interpretation of the Encyclical suggesting that that Humane Vitae constituted dogmatic and infallible teaching because, in his opinion, it was part of the universal magisterium.
Pope Paul VI, its author, never made that claim.
Pope John Paul I never made that claim.
And, most interestingly, after he became Pope, Cardinal Wojtyla never declared Humane Vitae as infallible at any time during his Pontificate.
Of course, none of this makes a bit of difference to Cardinal Mueller who takes a step further labeling as enemies of the Church those who would offer a more moderate interpretation and application of the Encyclical’s teaching.
Why do Cardinal Mueller and those like him seem so bent on sowing seeds of division among the Christian faithful of good will who seek a clearer insight and more benign application of the inherent wisdom of Humanae Vitae?
Cardinal Mueller spokes for no one but himself to a group within the Church that seeks to serve no one but itself.
To him and his consorts, I offer the following wisdom: “Silence is golden. So, please, just be quiet. Thank you!”
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