This week, two news items featured in a national newspaper. First is a story of a Roman Catholic Information Center operated by the Opus Dei putting up a paper refuting the Da Vinci Code, a novel by Dan Brown, which is said to be attacking the Christian faith. The other item bannered a story that the Vatican is thinking of reviewing the ban on the condom because of the threat of AIDS spread. The first, though said to be a novel of fiction, is based on assumptions and the presentation so realistic bordering on the truth that many suspect the novel is true. The second story deals with the possible second thoughts of a 1968 Papal Encyclical, which bans artificial contraception.

The Da Vinci Code is a best selling novel about Jesus, His life, family and possible descendants. The book is so popular that a movie version is about to be filmed. The Jesus story is not new. Ernest Renan had written biography of Jesus at the end of the nineteenth century. Another book a biography of Jesus was written by A. N. Wilson (Sinclair Stevenson 1992) portrayed the human side of Jesus with all the humanly attributes.

The most controversial is a nonfiction book Holy Blood Holy Grail written by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. (Dell Publishing 1983) Although certain conclusions may be blasphemous, heretical and are inimical to certain basic tenets of modern Christianity, the writers of the Holy Blood Holy Grail from which the novel Da Vinci Code may have been derived claim that they have not compromised or belittled Jesus but rather presented Him as a living plausible Jesus, a Jesus whose life is both meaningful and comprehensible to modern man.

On the other hand, the intent to revise the stand on artificial contraception may be met with opposition from conservative Catholics. Whatever the Pope decides, church officials and other experts agree. This is based on the doctrine of Papal infallibility. However, there are those who think that this infallibility is confined only to dogmas and doctrines. The 1986 encyclical Humanae Vitae banned artificial contraception, euthanasia, abortion and death penalty.

In their concern for human life the Church forbids its taking. This may be true for abortion and to some degree euthanasia. But to lump death penalty and artificial contraception in the same ban would be controversial. One who had willfully, maliciously and savagely taken human life of another cannot claim the right to live. The Biblical “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth a life for a life” may still apply in certain circumstances. Contraception, whether natural or artificial is the prevention of the union between the male and female reproductive cells. There is no life extinguished. The ban on artificial contraception may not be wholly understood.

Now the Church is reviewing the ban on the condom. Its use can prevent AIDS and because of this some experts may choose to exempt the condom from the ban. But would that mean that a Papal decree could be revised? The conservatives would resist the revision of the encyclical. Perhaps it is now the time come to terms with the modern times. To many commentators Pope John XIII was responsible in reorienting the Church and bringing it into the twentieth century. His successor Pope Paul II became one of the most beloved Popes even to non-Catholics. This time Pope Benedict XVI another Pope who displayed some degree of tolerance when he was Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, is faced with the problem of dealing with the problems of the modern world.