Vatican City, Jul 25, 2008 / 10:09 am
It is “paid propaganda to promote the use of contraceptives” said Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi today as he harshly criticized an "open letter to the Pope," which was run as a paid advertisement in the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Sera". The ad was signed by several "Catholic" organizations that are using the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae to criticize the Church’s teaching.
“First and foremost,” said Fr. Lombardi, “the authors are a part of a number of groups that are well known for their dissenting positions which are not limited to the mere teaching of marital morality but are also concerned with many other subjects (for instance the ordination of women) and that therefore for some time have been against the Magisterium of the Church.” Their outspoken rejection of the Church is “nothing new,” Lombardi said.
CNA first broke news of the letter on July 18, for more information on it read our story by clicking here.
The spokesman for the Holy See further noted that the long list of signers "should not impress, because it is often several national chapters of the same group, and many of these groups are fairly insignificant."