The Catholic Church and Contraception

By nature, love of spouses is indissolubly linked to fertility.

Sexuality has two interrelated purposes, the union of persons and procreation. The love of one man and one woman is crowned by the sexual act, which by nature is oriented towards the generation of a new life. However, in this relation between love and fertility the freedom of spouses plays a key role.

Spouses are indeed called to make a free choice regarding the control of their fertility. The Church's position on fertility has often been caricatured. It has never said that parents should have as many children as biologically possible. Parents are free to decide on the number of children they want to have, and the Church, respecting this freedom, would never think of undermining their authority. Its role is to provide moral guidance on how to exercise this freedom. It calls for the couple to make a generous and responsible choice, while paying attention to the reality they live in: economic and social situation, health of parents, etc. They can legitimately space the pregnancies due to health and economic reasons. This is what the Church calls responsible parenthood. This invitation to combine generosity and responsibility can be illustrated by the formula given by a priest: «The right number of children is the one you chose to have, plus one». Generous souls are always willing to accept changes that may imply going beyond their initial projects. Christian parents know that when they transmit life, they give birth to a new being called to live the joy of heaven in God's presence for all eternity.

As far as birth control planning is concerned, the inevitable discussion is the method used. The Church segregates them into artificial methods of contraception on the one hand, and natural methods on the other. Artificial methods are those that interfere with the conjugal act. They do so either before, during or after the act to make it infertile. They include in particular the male condom, spermicidal creams, IUDs and the pill. We will see why the Church condemns them. Natural methods try to detect the infertile periods to limit sex only to those periods¹. The latter are legitimate methods provided that the purpose is also fair. In fact, an act is morally good if the means used and the purpose sought to be accomplished are both good. Thus, a couple who constantly uses natural methods to avoid having a child would be in contradiction, in the eyes of the Church, with the ideal of human and Christian love.

Why does the Church condemn artificial birth control methods?

The reason of this condemnation is spiritual. When using artificial contraception, the man and the woman voluntarily break the link created by God between love and fertility. They cease to accept each other and to give each other the truth of their being, both physically and spiritually.

Why does the Church recognize natural methods?

With the natural methods, the man and the woman choose to unite when the link between love and fertility is inoperative. In doing so, they respect the order established by God. God might as well have made the woman fertile every day of the month. It has instead provided the infertile periods to allow the union without procreation. Spouses receive each other in respect of their total being, both carnal and spiritually. The woman receives the man respecting his sexuality. The man receives the woman accepting her own rhythm. The very structure of their relationship does not give place to rejecting life. In addition, these methods require a genuine commitment by both spouses. Both must work together towards a common goal and learn to know their own bodies in mutual respect. Using these methods therefore requires listening and respecting each other and cannot be a means of domination of one over the other. On the contrary, when using contraceptive pills, the man rests on the woman’s decision to take the pill; and does not acknowledge the physical and psychological consequences, known and unknown, that this use for several years may have on the woman. Therefore, he does not respect her completely.

The medical profession and the media are constantly arguing against natural methods. Some refuse to admit that in this matter the Church has a prophetic stance. Others will find it easier and more expedient to go buy some pills at the pharmacy than to be educated on a method involving intelligence and willingness. However we should not forget that there are big financial interests at stake in relation to chemical contraception while natural methods, on the other hand, are transmitted from person to person through education and learning to care for and respect one another. Some will argue that these methods are too complicated to use. But what they ignore is that they are successfully used in less developed populations (India, Madagascar, etc.).

No. 2370 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

«Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil.»

This position is also stated in No. 498 of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church published in 2005, taken from the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae² published in 1968 by Pope Paul VI.

To learn more

For a very clear presentation of the Catholic Church’s teachings on sexual morality, including contraception, we recommend the book written by Bishop André Léonard, bishop of Namur: Jésus et ton corps - la morale sexuelle expliquée aux jeunes (Jesus and your body - sexual morality explained to the youth), Ed. Mame, and another book explaining the meaning of sexuality: La sexualité selon Jean-Paul II (Sexuality according to John Paul II) Ed. de la Renaissance, Yves Semen.
On the Internet, a good summary of the Catholic Church’s teachings on this issue: Birth Control and a file divided in 6 parts: Church Teaching on Contraception [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

1 In contrast, natural methods can also be used to encourage conjugal union during fertile times to increase the probability of having a child.

2 The encyclical letter Humanae Vitae is the response of the Catholic Church to the pressure and propaganda spread by the Malthusian eugenics since 1950. Michael Jones has well documented the pressures that the Rockefeller Foundation and the Population Council (eugenics and Malthusians) and liberals (Catholic and Protestant apostates) exerted on Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. These pressures have delayed five years the publication of the encyclical letter Humanae Vitae, five years that the Liberals made their propaganda, subverted some of the Catholics and obtained the release of the contestable – and contested – Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes.

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