Roman Catholics: Time for a Change

Hardly had the pontifical commission on birth control submitted its findings to Pope Paul VI last year when word was passed that most of the commission's members had recommended abolishing the Roman Catholic Church's ban on contraception. Most people took it for granted that the news leak was an effort to pressure the Pope into siding with the majority—and soon. But the pressure seems to have had no noticeable effect; Paul has still to announce his long-awaited decision. Last week, in what was viewed as another evident attempt to hasten a liberal papal ruling, the National Catholic Reporter, an independent weekly published in Kansas City, printed the hitherto secret text of the commission's report.

The majority of the 76-member body of lay and clerical experts had indeed agreed that it was time for a change. And the liberals wisely based their argument, for the most part, not on the impersonal and narrow ground of population control, but on the contention that contraception can contribute to a happier married life. "If they are to observe and cultivate all the essential val ues of marriage," said the majority report, "married people need decent and human means for the regulation of conception. They should be able to expect the collaboration of all, especially from men of learning and science."

In rebuttal a minority of commission members (estimated to number around 15) insisted, quoting Pope Pius XI: "No reason, however grave, may be put forward by which anything intrinsically against nature may become conformable to nature and morally good." Carried to its logical conclusion, say some critics, such a doctrine might even support Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to receive blood transfusions. Aware of that problem, the minority took pains to point out that it was not condemning the application of technology and science to other natural processes—only to any interference with procreation.

Whether the news leak would move the Pope to action was doubtful. In Rome, Vatican officials announced that Pope Paul still had no intention of being hurried into making a ruling. In fact, said one prominent Vatican priest, the latest leak might well turn out to be controproducente (counterproductive): it might encourage Paul to ponder the issue even longer.