Former Head of German Protestants calls the pill a gift from God in Munich's Catholic cathedral

A former Protestant bishop is provocative, praising the benefits of birth control in a Catholic cathedral. Margot Käßmann on Thursday at the 2nd Ecumenical Church Meeting cautioned people not to demonize birth control and contraception - and that remarkably in the Liebfrauendom in Munich, one of the most famous Catholic Churches of Germany and the seat of the Archbishop of Munich. According to Catholic sexual morality, artificial contraceptives like the pill are prohibited.

Quite different to Käßmann. The development of birth control had been for many "something objectionable," said the Protestant theologian. "We can see it as a gift of God. For when it is matter of the preservation of life, to freedom, which does not just degenerate into pornography, the great sexualization of our society, is of course, a problem. It's about love without fear and responsible parenthood. And for women, in fact, to care for their own lives and those of your children. "And if someone is also going to opt for a life without children," our churches should not devalue the decision."

Käßmann recalled the high mortality of mothers and infants. Each year more than 300,000 women die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, 99 percent of them in poor countries."Those who want to prevent such misery among mothers and children, who does not want the blessing of giving birth to become a curse, will support birth control, and support open access to contraception," said Käßmann.

Käßmann who is herself a mother of four daughters, preached in Liebfrauendom on Thursday evening at a women's ecumenical church service. The former Regional Bishop of Hanover and Chair of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) resigned in February after a drink-drive incident from her top positions. In the Ecumenical Church Meeting, she was enthusiastically applauded in her first appearances on Thursday like a star.

Cathcon comment: so enthusiastically received that one paper said about yesterday, the Ecumenical Church Meeting celebrated Margot Käßmann and the Ascension. 

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