How Many are Broken-Hearted by the Pope's Imprudent Condom Remarks

A friend sent me the following email today:

Hi Mary Ann,

I understand and share your distress at the imprudence of the pope’s remarks to an interviewer re use of certain prophylactic devices: that stabbed-in-the-back feeling J. Don’t know if you saw Smeaton’s to-the-point remarks on the matter, at http://bit.ly/dX4j90 (John Smeaton is the head of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children in the U.K.):

This week especially, my heart breaks for my children and for my grandchildren; my heart breaks for the children of Britain and for children throughout the world. My heart breaks as I witness leading figures in the Vatican fomenting universal confusion on Catholic teaching on the use of condoms following Pope Benedict’s interview on that subject in the new publication: "Light of the World”. …
I address now the successors of the apostles, the Catholic bishops of the world. As the leader of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, the oldest pro-life organization in the world, I especially address you, Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and through you, the bishops of the world.

“Countless children, perhaps my own grandchildren, will be deliberately corrupted as a result of the exploitation and misrepresentation of your interview about condoms by opponents of Catholic teaching within the Catholic Church. As a result of the worldwide media’s perception of your interview, and as a result of policies and legislation enacted on the basis of a false representation of Catholic teaching, the corruption of young children and the destruction of countless children in the womb will go hand in hand. Countless women will be exploited by selfish or insensitive or brutal husbands and boyfriends, as a result of the confusion generated in the mass media by opponents, within the Church, of Catholic teaching on the use of condoms."

Thanks to Jon for sending this. I'm posting a link to John Smeaton's blog (see blogroll on right). And may all our shepherds keep a more careful watch over their tongues with a sharp awareness of the potential to mislead and scandalize the flock.