Will the New Pope Overturn the Church's Teaching on Birth Control?

Pope Leo XIV

With the election of a new pope, Pope Leo XIV, some people have asked me "will the new Pope overturn the Church's teaching on birth control?" For those of you who aren't into reading, I'll get straight to the point - No. The Church didn't make up some random rule about birth control. She has simply handed down God's design for sexual intercourse and explained why birth control violates that design and is immoral.

For those of you who like to read a bit more, I'll explain a few things that should help you understand what the Church teaches and why. First, I will articulate how the Church teaches on areas of morals. Second, I will briefly unpack the Church's teaching on birth control. Third, I will show why that teaching cannot be changed by anyone - not even the Pope.

There is a misconception that the Catholic Church makes up rules related to morals as it sees fit (usually depending on who is "in charge") and that those rules are subject to change over time and space. While there are certain areas of the faith that can and do change significantly over time (think the use of Latin during Mass), there are other areas that do not and cannot. Think morals. When the Church talks about morals, she is discussing human actions that either bring us closer to God (good) or human actions that take us farther away from God (evil). Those things that are deemed good are the things we should do. Those things that are deemed evil are things we should not do. We call actions that are deemed evil "sins." So something that is morally good brings us closer to God and something that is morally bad takes us away from God and is called a sin. It is the duty of the Church to guide individuals and help them know and understand the types of actions that are good and help us get to Heaven and the types of actions that are evil and can lead us to Hell. Because souls are at stake (they go to either Heaven or Hell), the Church takes this duty very seriously. But who decides what is good and what is evil? Thankfully it isn't me or we would all be in a mess of epic proportions. Thankfully, again, no man (or woman) decides what is good and what is evil - God does. However, we can understand what is good and what is evil by both Revelation (what God has told us) and Reason (what humans can figure out using their 5 senses and experience of the world).

"You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Genesis 2:16-17)

But what about the Church's teaching on birth control? When did God dictate (and where did he do it) that birth control is evil? Well, He didn't. Not exactly. He didn't show up one day in the 1960's and quickly write it down and then hustle on back up to Heaven. That's not how God works. What God did do is set up a Church that would serve as the authentic interpreter of right and wrong, good and evil. He set it up so that He doesn't need to come down and set us straight every time humans decide to do something new and dumb (I'm looking at you Ray Kurzweil). Instead, he gave this duty to someone else. It is the duty of the Church to interpret, through Revelation (Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture) and Reason, what God has deemed as good and evil and to hand that onto the faithful. "But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed." (Dei verbum 9). So the teaching on birth control isn't a whim of some man (St. Pope Paul VI). God has deemed birth control evil and the Church has the authority to interpret and pass down teachings associated with that.

But what is the Church's teaching on birth control? It surprises many people to learn that the teaching on birth control spans several popes and that it wasn't just made up in 1968. While Humane vitae, from 1968, is the most comprehensive teaching, it isn't a new one. The Church has, in fact, always taught that any human action that could be considered "birth control" is immoral (i.e. evil). It also surprises many people to learn that the Church actually uses the term "direct sterilization" rather than birth control or contraception to describe what most of us consider birth control. Further, people are even more shocked to learn that there is no single definition of direct sterilization. Rather, it is a theological concept. So what does all of this mean? It means that I'm a super nerd that just can't help getting into the theological weeds. What it means, practically, is that God made human sexual intercourse to be oriented to both procreation and union of spouses and that any action that tries to separate those two things (while still having sex) is evil. One reason that using Natural Family Planning to avoid pregnancy is not evil is because you don't actively do something to avoid procreation while still having sex during times of fertility. You simply don't have sex. And not having sex isn't a sin. You aren't obliged to have sex all day every day during fertility simply because you're married. That would make visiting your in-laws, and most everything else in life, awkward. But I digress... You may still be asking yourself what birth control is if there is no definition of it. Fortunate for you, the super nerd in me uses a definition that I have developed using explanations from every single Church teaching on the subject. Direct Sterilization (remember, the Church doesn't call it birth control) can be defined as any temporary or permanent human act of a man or woman that deliberately aims at making foreseen pregnancy impossible as a means or as an end, either before, at the moment of, or after freely chosen sexual intercourse. While I can (and have) written extensively on this, I'll leave it at this definition for now and move on and explain why the Church will not be overturning it.

I've established that the Church doesn't decide what is good and evil, God does. The Church is an interpreter and guardian. I've also, very briefly, shown that sexual intercourse is both procreative and unitive and that is good (so says God), and that direct sterilization is bad (so says God). But what if the Church made a mistake interpreting an area of morals or what if she understands it in a new way? Can the Church change the teaching? The short answer is "yes" there is something called Development of Doctrine which is the ongoing process by which the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium, understands and articulates the fullness of God's revelation while remaining faithful to the original deposit of faith. So, yes, teachings on morals can be expanded on and updated, but they will remain faithful to the deposit of faith.

A perfect example of this is the teaching that direct sterilization is in regard to freely chosen sexual intercourse. The teaching that sexual intercourse must be freely chosen (in regard to direct sterilization) wasn't explicitly stated until 1975 and then again in 1993 - years after Humane vitae. This is important because it recognizes that acts of rape are not the same as acts of freely chosen sexual intercourse. They are VERY different things. Therefore, trying to prevent conception in an act of rape isn't immoral. Rather than the Church throwing out the entire teaching on direct sterilization because it recognizes that rape victims have the right to protect themselves against conception, they simply expanded the understanding of what sexual intercourse is and applied it to the teaching on direct sterilization. They remained faithful to the deposit of faith while establishing a very important distinction. This is how the Church faithfully interprets God's revelation. The Church revisits areas of morals and expands on teachings as it better understands them. What it doesn't do is completely overturn and backpedal on teachings like the one on birth control.

So there we have it. The teaching on birth control is handed onto us by God and has been consistently taught by the Church. And while she may expand her understanding to include things like sexual intercourse must be freely chosen, she will not overturn the teaching which is part of the original deposit of faith. So no one, not even the Pope, can overturn it.

Are you interested in learning how to live out the Church's teaching on sexual intercourse? Contact one of our practitioners today to get started charting.