ROME—Catholic groups from Europe to the Americas have called on Pope Benedict XVI to reverse the Vatican’s opposition to contraception, on the 40th anniversary of a major papal encyclical confirming the Roman Catholic Church’s position against artificial birth control.About 60 organizations signed the unusually frank open letter that was published as a half-page paid advertisement in Italy’s largest newspaper—40 years after Pope Paul VI issued the controversial encyclical “Humanae Vitae” that enshrined the Church ban on contraception. In their letter published on Friday in Corriere della Sera, dissident Catholic groups from countries including Britain, Brazil, Canada, France and the United States, said the effects of Humanae Vitae (On the Regulation of Birth) had been “catastrophic.” The groups argued that Catholics should be able “to plan their family life with certainty and in good conscience,” saying the Church doctrine has caused suffering among the world’s poorest and weakest, put the lives of women in danger and left millions of people at risk of AIDS. The letter said the impact of the Church position had been “disastrous in the southern hemisphere, where the Catholic leadership exercises considerable influence on the politics of family planning.” The authors said the 1968 encyclical, which has the status of a law for Catholics, continued to be “a source of great conflict and division in the Church.” And because most Catholics use contraception and feel they are not sinning, the policy has been “an utter failure,” according to the letter’s signatories. While criticism of the Vatican and its views is fairly common in articles and editorials in Italian newspapers, it is unusual for a group to take out a paid ad against the Pope, particularly in a large-circulation mainstream newspaper. ‘Obviously unfounded’ The Vatican, however, dismissed as “obviously unfounded” the idea that its stance on contraception has contributed to the spread of AIDS. It also described as “unrepresentative” of the Catholic Church the letter’s signatories such as Catholics for Choice that is based in the United States, We Are Church that has branches in numerous countries, and New Ways Ministry that helps minister to gay Catholics. Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi said the letter was not about expressing a “theological or moral position but paid propaganda in favor of the use of contraceptives.” “One wonders who paid for it and why,” Lombardi said. He said “the spread of AIDS is totally independent of the religious denomination of populations and of the influence of religious hierarchies,” adding that policies aimed at preventing the spread of the AIDS virus through condom use had largely failed. The Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano on Friday said that the encyclical Humanae Vitae was ahead of its time, given “the worrying developments in genetic engineering.” In signing the encyclical at the height of the sexual revolution during the 1960s, Paul VI went against the advice of a committee of experts that he had appointed, but future Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI supported his position, according to the Vatican newspaper. ‘Show of courage’ Benedict recently defended the encyclical as far-sighted and said it was “all too often misunderstood and misinterpreted.” “Drafted to treat a difficult situation, it (the encyclical) constitutes a significant show of courage in reasserting the continuity of the Church’s doctrine and tradition,” the Pope said in a speech in May. “If the practice of sexuality becomes a drug that seeks to enslave one’s partner to one’s own desires and interests, without respecting the cycle of the beloved, then what must be defended is no longer solely the true concept of love but in the first place the dignity of the person,” Benedict said. Published on July 25, 1968, Humanae Vitae was considered a landmark document that laid down traditional Catholic doctrine on sex at a time when the development of the contraceptive pill was giving women across the world new sexual freedom. As a result, millions of Catholics have distanced themselves from the Vatican while the clergy has remained divided on how to deal with such a document, covered as it was by the doctrine of papal infallibility. “It is clear to us that the Catholic Church cannot move forward until it honestly confronts the paradox of Humanae Vitae: Most Catholics use modern contraceptives, believe it is a moral choice to do so and consider themselves Catholics in good standing, yet the Catholic hierarchy completely denies this reality, forcing the clergy into silence on this and most other issues related to sexuality,” the letter said. It concluded: “Pope Benedict, we call on you to use to use this anniversary as an opportunity to start the process of healing by being true to the positive aspects of Catholic teachings on sexuality and lifting the ban on contraception to allow Catholics to plan their families safely and in good conscience.” | 
