Is he young (for a papabile)?

Yep. Sixty, so he's got a few more shots at this.

Vortex, birth control pills can be prescribed for a medical reason without violating doctrine. If another form does not have a valid medical reason, e.g. the IUD, in theory a Catholic woman would never use it.

IVF and artificial insemination are also prohibited.

LJ, it's not because you're married. Georgetown Hospital is skilled at finding various ways to explain away BC pills as medically necessary so they can satisfy the requirements of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

could you have someone heading the Church who didn't believe it was the One True Faith?

not in catholisism or christianity in general, however ther are other religions that believe that there are many paths to god.

Georgetown Hospital is skilled at finding various ways to explain away BC pills as medically necessary so they can satisfy the requirements of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It's all the hot-air vibes floating around from the politicians.

I can also imagine a less-martial way of expressing the concept, just as you have.

Clearly. But, hey -- was that quote originally in English?

Anyway, I'm just saying -- he really has enough clear-cut things that he says that I think are horrible that I can focus on those.

OH! Semi-relatedly: Apparently someone jumped in front of a train on the track opposite the train I was on yesterday morning. Some dotty old lady IMMEDIATELY started talking about how God can't forgive suicide. Dude. So not the point right this minute.

Do you think he's creating an "other" to hate, or that he's preaching the doctrine he believes is true.

There are plenty of ways to promote Catholicism without denigrating other religions. And based on what I've heard here, I'd say he's certainly denigrated Buddhism and Hinduism, at least once.

In 1986 Ratzinger issued a letter to the Catholic Bishops in which he wrote that homosexuality was a tendency towards an intrinsic moral evil. A few years later, in 1992, he rejected the notion of human rights for gays, stressing that their civil liberties could be "legitimately limited."

I'd also call this creating an "other" to downtread.

Georgetown Hospital is skilled at finding various ways to explain away BC pills as medically necessary so they can satisfy the requirements of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops

Thanks, Maria, though I'm still not sure I understand. Is it just sort of handwaved away? As far as I can remember, my doctor didn't try to get me to say I had irregular periods, or anything else that would make them serve a purpose beyond contraception. I would think that lying about why the pill is being prescribed would be worse than just prescribing it, but I suspect I'm missing something.

Not being used for contraceptive purposes, is that okay

I think in practice, this is what happens. But doctrinally it's not. JPII said that there should be no sex besides the sex meant to procreate (even in marriage) so if you're infertile, fuggeddaboudit!

You know what I am realizing from all this Pope hooha? I know a lot more ex-Catholics than I do active ones. Or anyway, everybody I've run into who has anything to say about this choice of Pope has said something negative, followed in 80% of cases with "well, but I'm not Catholic, so it's not my problem" or "well, I'm not Catholic any more so it's not my problem."

Which, you know, I live in a state with a 50% Catholic population, if you believe the self-report statistics. Where are they all hiding??

Clearly. But, hey -- was that quote originally in English?

I had that thought too, Jesse. The word "autoerotic," in particular, I wonder about as a possible clumsy translation.

Not that bad translation saves the guy, though.

Which, you know, I live in a state with a 50% Catholic population, if you believe the self-report statistics. Where are they all hiding??

All the ones I'm related to live in Western Masschusetts, if that helps.