Fr. Corapi on the lackluster leadership

Fr. Corapi says long-term effects of rejecting Humanae Vitae are profound.

The long-term effects of rejecting the papal encyclical are "profound," says Fr. Corapi. "The argument can be strongly made that the proliferation of abortion can pretty much be traced to artificial contraception," he said. "It's almost a cause-and-effect kind of thing, and Paul VI warned about that. But large numbers [of] Church leaders rejected it and were so bold as to even reject it in writing, and that's not without consequences. There were profound consequences not only in the Church but in the United States, Canada and the whole world. It's had a profound effect on de-Christianizing the culture."

In the interview, Fr. Corapi says he blames the leadership of the Church, namely the bishops, priests, and theologians, for the large numbers of Catholics currently not attending Mass. "You have to ask yourself why people have drifted away," he says. "We have control over the reasons inside the Church. You can start with the top."

He says that he traces the problem to unfaithfulness. In the Old Testament, he says, "leadership was removed from the people of God, the chosen people, because of infidelity to the covenant."