Reply #200: Even worse... [View All]

[regnaD kciN]

...Ratzinger is on record as saying that Humanae Vitae, the anti-contraception encyclical, was an exercise in Papal Infallibility, even though the Pope who issued it denied it that status. As a mere single cardinal among many, his opinion could be dismissed...but now, he can (and I believe will) raise it to infallible status with the stroke of a pen.

That means that it doesn't matter how moderate or even liberal a future pontiff may be -- no one on earth can change an infallible proclamation, as it is seen to have come directly from God.

That means that a thousand, or even a million, years from now (should humankind and Roman Catholicism last that long) whoever was Pope would still be bound to obey the ruling that the use of artificial contraception is never to be permitted. There would be no way to get around it, ever.