This book is the first to present a comprehensive historical picture of the modern Catholic concern with the body and sexuality. The Catholic church is commonly believed to have always opposed birth control and abortion throughout the centuries. Yet the Catholic encounter with modern sexuality has a more complex and interesting history. What was the meaning of sexual purity? Why did eugenics matter to Catholicism? How did the Society of Jesus interpret the idea of overpopulation? Why did Pius XI decide to issue the notorious encyclical Casti connubii on Christian marriage the first modern papal pronouncement on birth control, abortion, and eugenics? In answering these questions, Lucia Pozzi uncovers new archival and unpublished records to dig into Catholic responses to modern sexual knowledge, showing the Catholic church at times resisting, but also often welcoming, scientific modernity.

Offers an array of sources to provide critical insight into Catholic concern with the body and sexuality Explores the ways in which the Catholic church has, and continues to, regulate sexual behaviours Allows histories of sexuality and religion to speak to each other in new ways

Autorentext

Lucia Pozzi is an intellectual historian in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is the author of journal articles and book chapters on the history of modern Catholic discourses on sexuality and eugenics.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Onanism.- 3. The Holy Office Dealing with Abortion and Contraception.- 4. Youth and Sexual Purity.- 5. Jesuits Writing on Population Theories and on Eugenics.- 6. Nudism.- 7. Scientific Eroticism.- 8. The First Modern Vatican Public Talk about Sexuality.- 9. Conclusion.