To me this entire paragraph means that in order to be intimate, both husband and wife have to be accepting of it and want it at that point in time because sex should only happen with the intentions of making a kid. This goes hand in hand with disagreeing with any form of birth control since it is obviously meant to prevent birth. Not all birth control is meant to prevent birth though. Some women use the pill to regulate their time of the month because of how painful cramps may be or any other thing that could happen. Condoms are also used to prevent transmission of any STD's, which will ultimately protect a child from also getting the disease. Although the church believes that you should only be having sex to have children, there is still some reason behind always using birth control.
Later on in the paragraph the pope also expects the man to know when the woman does not want to be intimate solely by reading it on their face. For the record, men will never be able to read women because they don't even know what they want sometimes.
Yes but in the church's defense, one shouldn't have to worry about things like STD's because sex should be shared in a chaste marriage between two people that have only "ideally" had sex with each other. And as far as the birth control for other things I know that many women just find other means for cramps like Midol or heating pads. Technically there are other options and rules that believers are to follow so that any form of birth control wouldn't be necessary.
ReplyDeleteI find the wording of this paragraph interesting. What defines "reasonable wishes" with regard to intimacy? Also, I like your bit about intimacy and love. The use of the word love is indeed a powerful one especially with regards to this issue. It seems that in addition to your analysis, that the Pope regards any other form of physical intimacy without love as offensive to the "moral code".
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