MikeG prediction: One of these days the Catholic Church will be pro-choice

[MikeG]

Please agree or disagree at will.

[RC]

1. Up until 1952 or so

the Catholic Church had no position on abortion.

[Sporadicus]

2. The Proverbial Cat's out of the Bag Now

I expect all future meetings of the College of Cardinals - including the election of a new Pope - to include discussion of abortion. I'm no prognosticator when it comes to positions of individual cardinals, but I'm sure it'll be discussed.

[Az]

3. Can't happen

There is this thing called Papal Infallibility. It is the cornerstone upon which the Catholic Churches claims of authority are based. The idea is that when speaking on matters of official Church Policy the Pope cannot be in error. Whatever he says is the truth.

In 1968 the Pope issued an official document called Humanae Vitae. It spelled out the Churches official policy on birth control and abortion. It placed the Church clearly against both. There can be no questioning of this position.

[rpannier]

4. Yes there can...

Once this Pope is gone a new Pope is pretty much free to "re-think" doctrine. It's one of the reasons why people have long suspected that John Paul I might have been poisoned -- He apparantly was a believer in possibly opening the Priesthood to women and he believed in challenging other Church doctrine he considered outdated.
As one of my friends always says, "It's good to be King." And when you're Pope -- you're a king (of sorts)

[Az]

6. Personally I would love to see it but

If a Pope passes and eddict or anything that reverses the official position of a previous Pope its over. The entire claim to authority the Church holds over its people is this notion that the Pope cannot be wrong. This is forever. The Pope is supposed to be the one person closest to god.

Reason dictates that the Vatican must reconsider its position on abortion. Religion is not predicated on reason. I am not going to hold my breath waiting for the Vatican to be reasonable.

[Massacure]

11. The church has changed its posistion many times.

Wasn't Galileo jailed by the Vatican for saying the sun is the center of the universe and not the Earth? The Vatican believes the Sun is the center of the universe today!

[AliciaKeyedUp]

5. Not as we currently understand abortion

No, I don't think the Church will ever agree. I do see it agreeing to birth control, but that's about as far as they will go.

(On edit: the headline is meant to take into account scientific advancements of some sort that I can't begin to describe.)

[rurallib]

7. I don't think we'll see it in our lifetime

The catholic church is also anti-birth control. Both of these edicts are commonly ignored by catholics worldwide. So edict or not the practicing catholics don't practice this part in the main. They talk like they do though.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[w4rma]

9. I agree. The Catholic church was pro-choice before the 1950s. (nt)

[comradebillyboy]

10. holy mother, the church

is quite pragmatic and in the long run adjusts quite well to the real world. remember the catholic church is not in any way fundamentalist, just very conservative