Vatican: Family "inbred"

Just as W was promoting a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, Papa Ratzi's Pontifical Council on the Family was issuing a new document "on the family," according the Zenit News Agency, which reports the purpose of the document is to "open the doors to the future research into these debated issues." How open? This open:

First, quoting JPII: "The family is inbred in man and has been established by God. But today man has become a riddle to himself and is experiencing the deepest crisis in history in his family dimension: The family is attacked as it has never been before; the new forms of union are destroying it; the fertilization techniques are totally ousting human love; the birth control policies are leading to today's 'birth winter.' " Obviously a bad translation, don't know who picked "inbred," but I think this qualifies as overstatement. I'd dare to guess that about .001 percent of births use IVF, especially since most of the world's births occur in the developing world anyway. That's far from "totally ousting human love."

Second: "Never before has the natural institution of marriage and the family been the victim of such violent attacks. The family and marital life models are changing … [and] if we look at the lengths people go to avoid having children, including contraception as well as abortion, the eclipse of any reference to God looks clear in the predominant view of responsible procreation." Violent attacks? Eclipsing God? And back to IVF: Why would infertile couples spend thousands on IVF and adoption if they were so relentlessly trying to avoid children? I strongly encourage the members of the Council to begin procreating immediately.

Finally, for you lesbian and gay folks out there: "Gay couples claim for themselves the same rights as those that are specific to husband and wife, they even claim the right to adopt. Lesbian couples claim for themselves the same rights, demanding laws that will give them access to heterologous fertilization or embryo implantation." Of that .001 percent of IVF treatments, I'd be willing to bet that .001 percent of those involve these outrageously uppity lesbian couples. Incidentally, does anyone know the Latin word for "heterologous"? Just asking.

And for you straight married folks, just so you know you're not off the hook: "The union and procreation factors [must] be always matched to each other in any marital act." The document does permit "periodical continence," in other words "the use of marriage only in non-fertile periods."

Is marriage something that's "used," like a lawnmower or other household appliance? Not a very nice way to talk about a sacrament. Oh yeah, what's a "marital act"? Sounds kind of dirty.

Can't wait to read the full English text!