The Pontifical Academy for Life has published an interview with a theologian who says Catholic teaching on contraception is open for “theological discussion, within the Church, and even the possibility of dissent.”
The interview with Father Maurizio Chiodi, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017, was published in Italian and English and shared on the pontifical academy’s Twitter page. It was conducted by Fabrizio Mastrofini, the communications and social media manager of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The Pontifical Academy for Life present-ed the interview with Chiodi as a clarification of the work of a 2021 seminar on ethics in which theologians debated a “basic text.”
One of the drafters of the Basic Text and participant in the conference, Fr. Maurizio Chiodi, answered some questions to clarify the meaning of the work done.
A Vatican-published book synthesizing the three-day conference recently came under fire for suggesting that the Catholic Church’s constant opposition to the use of contraception in marriage — clarified in the encyclical Humanae vitae — could change.
Father Chiodi in 2017 publicly argued that some circumstances in marriage could “require contraception” as a matter of responsibility.
In the Aug. 19 article, Chiodi said, “Humanae Vitae, like any encyclical, including Veritatis Splendor, is an authoritative document, but with no claim to infallibility.”
“When it comes to Humanae Vitae, and the earlier stance contained in Casti connubii — which was even stronger — we are in the realm of doctrina reformabilis (‘reformable doctrine’),” he said.
“This,” Chiodi added, “does not legitimize hastily substituting one’s own idea with the teaching of the magisterium, claiming for oneself an infallibility denied to the magisterium, but it does open up theological discussion, within the Church, and even the possibility of dissent, both for the individual believer and the theologian.”