The
Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies that all sex acts must be both unitive and procreative. In addition to condemning use of artificial birth control as intrinsically evil, non-procreative sex acts such as
mutual masturbation and anal sex are ruled out as ways to avoid pregnancy.
Casti connubii explains the secondary, unitive, purpose of intercourse. Because of this secondary purpose, married couples have a right to engage in intercourse even when pregnancy is not a possible result: John and Sheila Kippley from the
Couple to Couple League say that the statement of
Pope Pius XI not only permitted sex between married couples during pregnancy and menopause, but also during the infertile times of the
menstrual cycle. Raymond J. Devettere says that the statement is a permit to undertake intercourse during the infertile times when there is "a good reason for it". and in 1932 a Catholic physician published a book titled
The Rhythm of Sterility and Fertility in Women promoting the method to Catholics. However, use of the rhythm method in certain circumstances was not formally accepted until 1951, in two speeches by
Pope Pius XII. This method has come to be known as "natural family planning." Some studies suggest that couples who practice NFP enjoy an abundance of healthy advantages, the most notable of which might be a reduced divorce rate amongst couples who use NFP. The Catholic Church continues to uphold the practice of natural family planning since it maintains the unitive aspect of the sexual union while still bolstering an openness to procreation.
Current view The Catholic position on contraception was formally explained and expressed by
Pope Paul VI's
Humanae vitae in 1968. Artificial contraception is considered intrinsically evil, but methods of
natural family planning may be used, as they do not usurp the natural way of conception. In justification of this position, Pope Paul VI said: Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection. In 1997, the Vatican's
Pontifical Council for the Family stated: The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception, that is, of every marital act intentionally rendered unfruitful. This teaching is to be held as definitive and irreformable. Contraception is gravely opposed to marital chastity; it is contrary to the good of the transmission of life (the procreative aspect of matrimony), and to the reciprocal self-giving of the spouses (the unitive aspect of matrimony); it harms true love and denies the sovereign role of God in the transmission of human life. A summary of the Scriptural support used by Catholics against contraception can be found in
Rome Sweet Home, an autobiography by the Catholic apologists
Scott and
Kimberly Hahn, both of whom are converts to the
Catholic Church from Protestantism. They illustrate the results of the research on contraception conducted by Kimberly Hahn as having a pivotal effect on their lives, notably the fact that the Catholic Church is one of the last few Christian groups to take a clear stance on the issue. Among the Scripture included in the book are the following lines from
Psalm 127:3–5: Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gate. Catholic scholar Cormac Burke has written an anthropological (non-religious) evaluation of the effect of contraception on marital love, "Married Love and Contraception", arguing, "contraception does in fact denaturalize the conjugal act, to the extent that, far from uniting the spouses and expressing and confirming the love between them in a unique way, it tends to undermine their love by radically contradicting the full mutual self-giving that this most intimate act of the marital relationship should signify." The 2008
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's instruction
Dignitas Personae reiterates church opposition to contraception, mentioning new methods of interception and
contragestion, notably
female condoms and
morning-after pills, which are also "fall within the
sin of abortion and are gravely immoral". However, Father
Tad Pacholczyk of the
National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania stated in March 2016 that contraceptives are permissible if the sex is non-consensual, such as events of
rape and
sexual assault. This same position has been taken by the Bishops of New York State: that it is not sinful for a Catholic health care facility to "dispense emergency contraception medication as part of its compassionate treatment for a rape victim if, after appropriate testing, there is no evidence conception has occurred already" and that it is "advisable" for a rape survivor to immediately seek out pregnancy prevention.
Condom controversy In 2003, the
BBC's
Panorama stated that Catholic bishops in Kenya have taught that HIV can pass through the membrane of the latex rubber from which condoms were made. It was considered untrue according to the
World Health Organization. In an interview on Dutch television in 2004, Belgian Cardinal
Godfried Danneels argued that the use of condoms should be supported to prevent
AIDS if sex with a person infected with HIV should take place, though it is to be avoided. According to Danneels, "the person must use a condom in order not to disobey the commandment condemning murder, in addition to breaking the commandment which forbids adultery. ... Protecting oneself against sickness or death is an act of prevention. Morally, it cannot be judged on the same level as when a condom is used to reduce the number of births." In 2009,
Pope Benedict XVI asserted that handing out condoms is not the solution to combating AIDS and might make the problem worse. He proposed "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer" as solutions. In 2010, Benedict in an interview which was published in the book
Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times, when asked whether the Catholic Church were not opposed in principle to the use of condoms, stated: She [the Catholic Church] of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality. Benedict cited the example of the use of condoms by male prostitutes as "a first step towards moralisation", even though condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection". In a statement to explain his saying, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirmed that the church considered prostitution "
gravely immoral": However, those involved in prostitution who are HIV positive and who seek to diminish the risk of contagion by the use of a condom may be taking the first step in respecting the life of another even if the evil of prostitution remains in all its gravity.
Dissent Roderick Hindery reported that a number of Western Catholics have voiced significant disagreement with the church's stance on contraception. Among them, dissident theologian
Charles Curran criticized the stance of
Humanae vitae on artificial birth control. In 1968, the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued what many interpreted as a dissenting document, the
Winnipeg Statement, in which the bishops recognized that a number of Canadian Catholics found it "either extremely difficult or even impossible to make their own all elements of this doctrine" (that of
Humanae vitae). Additionally, in 1969, they reasserted the Catholic principle of
primacy of conscience,
Catholics for Choice stated in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of U.S. Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the church's teaching on birth control. According to a nationwide poll of 2,242 U.S. adults surveyed online in September 2005 by
Harris Interactive (they stated that the magnitude of errors cannot be estimated due to
sampling errors,
non-response, etc.), 90% of U.S. Catholics supported the use of birth control/contraceptives. A survey conducted in 2015 by the
Pew Research Center among 5,122 U.S. adults (including 1,016 self-identified Catholics) stated 76% of U.S. Catholics thought that the church should allow Catholics to use birth control. ==Eastern Orthodoxy==