I do not understand why we think we are smarter, more informed, or even holier than the Pope himself! If Pope Francis said it happened and that the Vatican approved, it is so. This reminds me of people trying to explain away what he actually said, until Fr. Federico Lombardi said, “Yep, this is exactly what he said.”
As far as the previous popes affirming the current, official Church teaching- yes. But this is about to undergo a development. Just like the doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus, the sinfulness of usury, the concept of religious liberty- all matters of faith and morals. We have to avoid the two-fold temptation of 1) pretending that doctrine does not develop, and 2) revising history.
Can we trust the Holy Spirit to work in this situation through our Pope?
Following is the oath against Modernism (the heresy some on this thread are proposing is perfectly fine to believe). I am not accusing anyone of heresy….only God can judge. But believing that doctrine evolves or that if majority rationalizes -and claims the Pope agrees with them- that contraception can be licit in at least some instances is……a heresy of Modernism. The Holy Spirit already HAS guided the Pope to make a decision regarding this. Please read what a Pope and Saint, Pius X, required of priests and teachers.
*To be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries.
I . . . . firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day. And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (see Rom. 1:19), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated: Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time. Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time. Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.
Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical’ misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely. Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and lord.
Furthermore, with due reverence, I submit and adhere with my whole heart to the condemnations, declarations, and all the prescripts contained in the encyclical Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili, especially those concerning what is known as the history of dogmas……
I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles.
The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way.
I promise that I shall keep all these articles faithfully, entirely, and sincerely, and guard them inviolate, in no way deviating from them in teaching or in any way in word or in writing. Thus I promise, this I swear, so help me God.*
papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10moath.htm
This is well established by the Church. You appear to assume every utterance by the pope is Church teaching. It is not.
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