Roman Catholic teaching identifies the family as the social and moral centre of the community; the family, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is “the original cell of social life.” The guiding principle of church teaching, the stability of the family, does not admit divorce, which was banned by Jesus. Although the church long defined the family as a hierarchical structure headed by the father, it now in keeping with the declarations of Vatican II and the teachings of John Paul II rejects the traditional subordination of women in the family in favour of equality of dignity and responsibility between men and women. The family, moreover, is child-centred; traditional Catholic teaching makes the primary end of marriage the procreation and rearing of children. Only recently have Catholic theologians begun to speak of mutual love as an end “equally primary.”
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the Roman Catholic Church was faced with the problem of preserving the unquestioned values of mutual love and responsibility in marriage while attempting to come to terms with the realities of modern life. The practice of birth control has proven particularly controversial within Catholic sexual ethics, which uphold the family ideal. In Humanae vitae (1968; “Of Human Life”) Paul VI restated the church’s traditional prohibition of artificial birth control, against the recommendations of a commission instituted at Vatican II and despite the opposition of many theologians and laypersons, asserting that “each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.” In the 1980s and ’90s the church’s position banning condom use by Catholics was criticized by health and human rights advocates as possibly fostering the spread of AIDS. Upheld by John Paul II, the ban was reaffirmed by his successor, Benedict XVI, after a 2006 study on the theological ramifications of using condoms with the intention of preventing sexually transmitted diseases rather than insemination. In 2010, however, Benedict stated in an interview that condoms could be used in some circumstances as a means of preventing the transmission of AIDS. A Vatican spokesman subsequently declared that condoms could not be used as birth control. Dignitas Personae (2008; “The Dignity of a Person”), a Vatican statement on bioethics, proscribed Catholics from taking the “morning-after” pill, because its use manifests the intention to commit abortion; denounced in vitro fertilization, because it disrupts the natural process of conception; and condemned medical research using embryonic stem cells, though it endorsed research with adult stem cells. While many theologians, clergy, and laypersons agreed with church policy on these matters, many others disagreed and even chose to defy it.
The church also struggled with the issue of homosexuality among the laity and clergy. The church opposed gay marriage, declared homosexual behaviour to be sinful and homosexuality an “objective disorder,” and advised gay Catholics to remain chaste. It also provided specific guidelines for the pastoral care of homosexuals, denounced violence against them, and taught that the fundamental dignity of homosexuals as human beings must be respected. The church since Vatican II
The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, which took place from 1962 to 1965, was one of the most important councils in church history, and it profoundly changed the structures and practices of the church. It sought, in the words of Pope John XXIII, aggiornaménto, “to bring the church up to date,” and many of the council’s decrees did bring the church into the modern world. Although the reforms were welcomed by many, they produced internal disruptions greater than any the church has known since the Protestant Reformation. Some have argued that the council did not go far enough, while others have maintained that its reforms went too far, too fast. In the decades following the council, liberal and conservative Catholics were divided over interpretation of its decrees. Although such disunity posed a real threat of schism, there were only a few group departures. The number of departures of individual members of the laity and clergy, however, was large enough to cause concern and remained an important matter for the church long after the council ended.
In accordance with Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church officially abandoned its “one true church” position and formally ended the thousand-year schism with the Greek Orthodox Church. It also entered into ecumenical conversations with other churches with the hope of establishing greater Christian unity. The church has assumed observer status in the World Council of Churches and has participated in groups associated with the World Council. Representatives of the church participated in the discussions sponsored by the World Council that led to the publication of the important document Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (1982), which identified areas of agreement between the churches on several core teachings; the church responded positively, though with qualification, to the text. Steps to improve relations with non-Christian religions were made at Vatican II and by the popes of the later 20th century. The council’s declaration Nostra aetate (October 28, 1965; “In Our Era”) rejected the traditional accusation that the Jews killed Christ, recognized the legitimacy of Judaism, and condemned anti-Semitism. Efforts at improving relations with other religions, especially Judaism, were pivotal to the papacy of St. John Paul II, who prayed with world religious leaders in 1986, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and prayed in a mosque and a synagogue.
The openness of the Catholic church following Vatican II took surprising forms in places such as Latin America, where many local church leaders supported liberation theology (the Latin American movement that sought to aid the poor as a religious duty and criticized existing socioeconomic structures) in the 1970s. For a time, the church adopted a less confrontational approach to communist governments in the hope of improving the lives of Catholics in those countries. Following the election of John Paul II, however, the church supported opposition movements in communist eastern Europe and suppressed liberation theology; at the same time, it remained keenly involved in international affairs, as the pope undertook numerous pastoral visits throughout the world.
Problems, however, have been more in evidence than progress. The church faced the challenge of resolving the long-latent conflict between the hierarchy and the lower clergy over the tradition of total obedience in lifestyle and ministry. This conflict has come to a head on the issue of clerical celibacy; although there are no sure statistics, there are estimates that as many as one-half of Catholic clergy wish celibacy to be optional. The issue of clerical celibacy was raised anew in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when members of the clergy, as discussed earlier, were accused of sexually abusing minors. However, some have argued that pedophilia is unrelated to the celibacy requirement, claiming that the root of the sex abuse lies in the infiltration of the clergy by sexual predators seeking to exploit priests’ easy access to children.
There was also discontent among the clergy regarding the nature of the church’s ministry. Many religious workers felt that the conventional ministries were not reaching enough people and were not meeting their most urgent needs. The desire to work “in the world,” while hardly alien to the New Testament ministry, was not easily satisfied within the traditional roles assigned to the clergy. And what might have appeared to be a minor issue in some places became a major issue in others; many priests and religious (women religious in particular, who have had more of a problem) no longer wished to wear the identifying garb, because they believed it to be an obstacle to personal relations. The discontent with life and ministry led to a large number of departures from the priesthood, most dramatically following Paul VI’s encyclical Sacerdotalis caelibatus (June 24, 1967; “Priestly Celibacy”), which confirmed the necessity of celibacy. The laity too became more restive, and many left the church for a variety of reasons, including the church’s teachings on artificial birth control. Some left because they believed the reforms of Vatican II were too liberal. More generally, there was a widespread but not explicit rejection of the traditional uses of authority and obedience in Roman Catholic clergy and religious communities.