What does the Church Teach regarding Artificial Birth Control?
The authoritative document that re-clarified the Church’s 2,000 year old teaching is Humanae Vitae (on Human Life). The Document was written by Pope Paul the VI in 1968. When it was published, it was received with much criticism from outside and from within the church. Here is a brief look at two paragraphs from the document.
Paragraph 22-We must recognize that an act which impairs the capacity to transmit life which God the Creator, through specific laws, has built into the sexual act, frustrates His design which constitutes the norm of marriage, and contradicts the will of the Author of life. Hence to use this divine gift (the sexual act) while depriving it, even if only partially, of its original meaning and purpose, is equally repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is consequently in opposition to the plan of God and His holy will. But to experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception is to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator. Just as man does not have unlimited dominion over his body in general, so also, and with more particular reason, he has no such dominion over his specifically sexual faculties, for these are concerned by their very nature with the generation of life, of which God is the source. "Human life is sacred—all men must recognize that fact," Our predecessor Pope John XXIII recalled. "From its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God.”
Paragraph 18-It is to be anticipated that perhaps not everyone will easily accept this particular teaching about artificial birth control. There is too much clamorous outcry against the voice of the Church, and this is intensified by modern means of communication. But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a "sign of contradiction." She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical. Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter—only their guardian and interpreter. It could never be right for the Church to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful, since that, by its very nature, is always opposed to the true good of man. In preserving intact the whole moral law of marriage, the Church is convinced that she is contributing to the creation of a truly human civilization. She urges man not to betray his personal responsibilities by putting all his faith in technical expedients. In this way she defends the dignity of husband and wife. This course of action shows that the Church, loyal to the example and teaching of the divine Savior, is sincere and unselfish in her regard for men whom she strives to help even now during this earthly pilgrimage "to share God's life as sons of the living God, the Father of all men."
The quotations listed above, are from a well crafted document that was largely misunderstood and not preached or taught well. I encourage you to read it, if you struggle with this teaching. All Church Documents can be found on the official Vatican Web Page: Visit the official Vatican Web Page Next week I would like to look at some of the criticisms; and show their weaknesses and outcomes!