” “"Nothing new". With these words, father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican newsroom, commented on the 2pm radio news bulletin of "Radio Vaticana" the "Open letter to the Pope" that has been published today for a fee on "Il Corriere della Sera" on the 40th anniversary of the "Humanae Vitae" (25 July 1968), Paul VI’s encyclical. The "Letter" firmly attacks the document. Here are "some simple considerations" by father Lombardi: "First and foremost, the authors are a number of groups that are well known for their dissenting positions which are not limited to the mere teaching of marital morality but also concern many other subjects (for instance the ordination of women) and that therefore for some time have been against the magisterium of the Church. So, nothing new". Father Lombardi highlighted that "the length of the list of the cited groups must not surprise, since often they are the different national sections of the same group, and several of such groups are fairly insignificant". In addition, "the hardest allegation, i.e. that the Catholic position is the cause for the spreading of Aids and therefore of pain and death, hindering enlightened public-health policies, is openly groundless". (continued)” “
