Cardinal Turkson clarifies remarks on birth control: Church approves 'responsible parenthood'
December 11, 2015
Cardinal Peter Turkson has clarified that when he told a BBC interviewer that “the Church has never been opposed to birth control,” he intended to refer to the spacing of children rather than artificial contraception.
In an interview with the Aleteia web site, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace acknowledged that his choice of words had prompted headlines that were “more exciting than the content itself.”
Church documents ordinarily refer to “responsible parenthood,” the cardinal said. When he responded to a question from BBC about birth control, he said, “my intention was to present the Church as not inimical or opposed to the idea of spacing births.”
For all current news, visit our News home page.
Further information:
- Exclusive: Cardinal Turkson Clarifies Birth Control, Climate Change Comments (Aleteia)
- Cardinal Turkson: Pope may intervene if Paris climate-changes talks stall (CWN, 12/9)
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
-
Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Dec. 12, 2015 9:29 PM ET USA
Loose lips sink ships. Every year I instruct our catechists not to use street or gutter language in the classroom. They are always safe when they use the language of the Church. Street language says something about the state of mind of the one who utters it. I am sure we can overlook Cardinal Turkson's slip of the lip, inasmuch as he was probably still euphoric over the "progress" made at the climate conference.
