Aw, I think you are missing Chesterton's "democracy of the dead here". The Pope did, in fact, have the consent of the Church if you were to look back at 1900 years of tradition. For 1900 years, the Church clearly taught that contraception was wrong and this demonstrates a clear consensus among Catholics. The twentieth century, is clearly an anomoly, and should not be considered the measure of the sensus fidei which preserves the deposit of the Christian faith.
Though this post is old...I think this is a very good point and worth taking another look at. The Church is not just the present universal institution of believers. The Church is all Christians at all times. It is eternal. It is the Communion of Saints. To me, Humanae Vitae is a good example of why the Pope is so crucial in the Church. Without him, we would have went the way of the Eastern Orthodox when it comes to contraception which I think would have been a mistake, yet Pope Paul VI safeguarded truth with his encyclical.
which agreed with no one in the preceeding 1900 years. Any other Protestant can do the like. But then the Protestants are your kin, and so we can see why you prefer their/your ways, rather than the steadfastness of the Orthodox.
Which is more patristic...opposing all forms of birth control except natural family planning (the RC position) when the Fathers opposed all forms of birth control,
SOME Fathers opposed not only all forms of birth control, including sex with the infertile, and others, e.g. St. John Chrysostom, opposed such ideas.
or allowing all forms of non-abortive birth control (EO position) despite the fact that the Fathers opposed all forms of birth control. Indeed, both positions are developments from the original position of the Fathers, yet which one is truly closer to the mind and heart of the Fathers?
Since you resort to misrepresenting the Fathers, you aren't in a position to know the mind and heart of the Fathers.
Taking, for sake of argument, your skewed picture, you're still out of luck. You claim all Fathers opposed all contraception. You allow contraception (while denying its contraception), and we allow contraception. I.e. no difference.