We have a new Pope: Leo XIV (nee, Robert Francis Prevost, an American) who proclaimed on the Vatican balcony he is a " "son of Saint Augustine". On that basis we need to watch him carefully to see the extent to which he will follow Augustine's more extreme teachings. In particular to do with artificial birth control.
To quote St. Augustine (Adam & Eve and the Serpent, by Elaine Pagels, p. 110-111 ), the "flesh or body is as a lower servant to the mind"..which "wars against the law of mind and includes the whole of one's natural being". It is this "rebellion in the flesh, a spontaneous uprising..." which must be brought back into submission to the mind in the same way a wild horse must be brought into submission to its master. Where did this horse manure come from?
Consider first the fact that many of the early Church Fathers, including Augustine, Origen, Tertullian et al, were Manichaeans. The ancient philosophy of Manicheanism divided the world into realms of light and darkness, flesh and spirit. The flesh was renounced as the medium employed by Satan and his legions to corrupt humans, and defy the laws of a would-be deity.
Indeed, as Pagels notes (p. 109), Augustine argued:
"That the semen itself is 'already shackled by the bond of death' and transmits the damage incurred by sin. Hence, Augustine concludes, every human being ever conceived through semen already is born contaminated with sin"
Of course, this nonsensical, unscientific twaddle (which is as derelict as some pastors I know) could have been taken straight out of the pamphlets of Mani, the founder of Manicheanism. It also reinforces the self-mortification meme that arose from the time of the early Fathers - to bring their bodies back in submission (via regular flagellation) to the "light" and mind.
Of course, since human sexual intercourse is a biological-physical act- requiring flesh for completion- it followed that it had to fall under the Manichaeans’ blacklisted behavior. Females figured into this, and came to be regarded as 'vessels of the Devil' - since it was within their wombs that the devilish flesh sprouted.
Well into the Middle Ages this view persisted, manifesting in the belief (often echoed by Fathers such as Aquinas) that sins such as adultery required much more severe punishment of the female than of the male. The female was believed closer by far in her carnality, to the demonic hordes. Indeed, the demise of male virtue as well as mental power, could be traced to becoming ensnared in female wiles. For this reason, Aquinas often admonished females that they be lashed to try to cure their fleshly demands, lest they wreak havoc on their husbands' minds.
St. Augustine, originally a Manichean, retained much of this mindset even after converting to Christianity in 387 CE. Not surprisingly, the inevitable flesh/pleasure = demonic connotations were interjected into his various teachings including his 'letters'. (For more on this, see the excellent monograph: Eunuchs For the Kingdom of Heaven by Ute Ranke-Heinemann, Doubleday, 1990).
Augustine's Manichean teachings (after his conversion to Christianity) held that any sexual pleasure whatsoever was diabolical in origin. However, it could be countenanced IF a baby was the end product. Otherwise, the offending parties were trafficking with demons. (He cites at one point, for "proof", the demon Asmodeus, who slew seven men in 7 beds with seven women, but not when they were sitting at a table.)
One can hope, okay the new Pope Leo XIV is an Augustinian, but he's not going to go the 'whole hog' on St. Augustine's teachings. The jury is out until we see where he comes down on assorted RC doctrines, particularly on artificial birth control.
I would only beg Leo to reject what St. Augustine wrote in his work, 'The Adulterous Relations', (II, 12):
"It is impermissible and shameful to practice intercourse with one's wife while preventing the conception of children. This is what Onan did, the son of Judah, and that is why God killed him".
In fact, this is a gross misinterpetation of the Onan passage but is also what is probably responsible for engendering the masturbation bogey. Since from then, "spilling seed" was equated to "onanism" and onanism to masturbation.
In his most recent post before entering Conclave,
Prevost criticized Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele
for making light of the deportation and detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Prevost linked to an article from the website Catholic Standard
comparing the plights and persecutions experienced by immigrant and refugee
communities to the Passion of Jesus Christ.
Of course this was all it took for MAGA monkey nutcase Laura
Loomer to lose it. WOKE MARXIST POPE," wrote Laura
Loomer - a far-right 9/11 truther.
Never mind. So long as Prevost-Leo XVI is taking down the
MAGA-ite morons we can all be for his continued tenure, as a terrific counterweight
to the megalomaniac felon traitor who now sits as misbegotten American president.
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