Catholic Doctrine and Reproductive Health WHY THE CHURCH CAN’T CHANGE Stephen D. Mumford DrPH, discusses how the anti-abortion movement in the United States was created in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade in 1973, which legalized abortion. However, says Dr. Mumford, "It really owes its origin to a group of men in Rome 103 years earlier. This was 1870, the year of Vatican Council I, a conclave of great importance in recent church history. Why is this so? From: Free Inquiry Magazine: 2000:Winter

The Pope and the Pill: The Catholic Church’s teaching against contraceptive birth control has “laid a heavy burden on” innumerable people. John M. Swomley attributes the overpopulation problems in many countries and the political campaign in the United States to deny women reproductive freedom to the papal decision to protect the authority and "infallibility" of the papacy.  He also confirms the Catholic Church’s fear that papal infallibility would be compromised if with abortion were condoned. From: Christian Social Action, February 1998

KÜNG RECAPS WHERE THINGS STAND NOW from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 11 - by Stephen D. Mumford

Postponing Self-Destruction of the Church Strategies by which the Vatican and U.S. Catholic bishops have been able to extend their institution's life. from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 12 - by Stephen D. Mumford

PAPAL POLITICS AND WOMEN A landmark report by the first woman admitted as an undergraduate to the University of Notre Dame. From: On the Issues, Fall 1998.  Author Ann Pettifer provides a comprehensive overview of the contraception debate within the Catholic Church and the actions of the far-right leadership to control billions of women.

"An equally important feature of the debate--about which the non-Catholic world is largely ignorant--is that, for decades, hostility to birth control has been the touchstone of papal authority. The Vatican has long believed that if it lost control of this issue, the whole edifice of papal infallibility might collapse like a house of cards.

"With the Church under siege on many fronts--the ordination of women and mandatory celibacy come to mind--it might seem odd at first that it should so fanatically stake its authority on holding the line on contraception.

"In 1968, in spite of a thorough investigation by a blue-ribbon Vatican commission, which had concluded that the Church should reverse its teaching on contraception, the Pope at the time, Paul VI, decided otherwise in his encyclical, Humanae Vitae. The commission’s report was ignored and the Church’s opposition t o birth control was reiterated."

Pettifer also describes the machinations of the "Catholic fascist cult Opus Dei," revealing some of the questions surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I after only 33 days in office and the election and consolidation of power of the present pontiff.

Looking for a possible reason for the untimely death of John Paul I, she cites his statement before he assumed the Papacy, "I assure all of you, that bishops would be more than happy to find a doctrine that declared the use of contraceptives legitimate under certain conditions."

And what the future holds for us:

"Any UN conference on population or ecology may expect the Vatican, usually in the person of Joachim Navarro Valls, its chief spokesman (and an influential member of Opus Dei), to use its observer status to sabotage programs and funding for family planning.... Papal reproductive politics are played out with devastating effect in vulnerable, developing countries, where women must incubate babies they cannot feed--much less educate adequately.... as the U.S. gears up for elections in the year 2000, the Vatican has begun to develop what it hopes will be a winning strategy.”

HOW POPULATION GROWTH CONTROL THREATENS THE PAPACY from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 6 - by Stephen D. Mumford

The NSSM 200 Directive and the Study Requested The 1974 Directive signed by Henry Kissinger on behalf of President Nixon, and the text of the study report, "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests." from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 3 - by Stephen D. Mumford

Why Did Our Political Will Fade Away? Describes the increasing involvement of the Roman Catholic Church in scuttling any positive action toward implementation of the NSSM 200 recommendations. from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 6 - by Stephen D. Mumford

ORIGIN OF TODAY'S ANTI-FAMILY PLANNING CRUSADE from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 6 - by Stephen D. Mumford

The Human Life Amendment -- and Beyond Evidence of the bishops' great success in killing American political will through implementation of the Pastoral Plan but without yet achieving passage of the Human Life Amendment. from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 10 - by Stephen D. Mumford

The Cross of Papal Infallibility The history and dynamics of the dogma of papal infallibility. Because of it, the Vatican has been forced to undermine the political will of governments that are striving to deal with overpopulation. from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 11 - by Stephen D. Mumford

A NEW IMAGE FOR THE POPE from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 11 - by Stephen D. Mumford

THE DISSENTERS' PREDICTIONS COME TRUE from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 11 - by Stephen D. Mumford

INFALLIBILITY COLLIDES WITH CONTRACEPTION from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 11 - by Stephen D. Mumford

LAY CATHOLIC AND VATICAN SECURITY INTERESTS IN CONFLICT from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 13 - by Stephen D. Mumford

Crossing the threshold of credibility. Published as a letter to the editor of The Lancet, Stephen D Mumford observes:

"Once the nature of the principle of papal infallibility and its origins are understood, it is evident that no solution to the birth control dilemma, short of the demise of the papacy as we know it, is likely."

Further:

"Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, now Pope John Paul II, as co-author of the minority report of the Papal Commission on Population and Birth Control (which was subsequently adopted) recognized that acceptance of contraception meant destruction of the principle of papal infallibility . . . The Vatican cannot change its position on birth control without destroying itself."

Political Power of Roman Catholic Bishops. Author John M. Swomley highlights the chronology of the Roman Catholic Bishops’ opposition to birth control beginning in 1921 when New York Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes arranged for the arrest of Margaret Sanger to prevent her from delivering a speech on birth control. He concludes with a description of the silence of Protestant churches about Catholic pressures on the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. From: The Human Quest, May-June 1992