Archive Report
Archive Report
Catholic Church and Family Planning
Impact of Pope' Encyclical in Latin America
The papal encyclical of July 29 reaffirming the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church to artificial methods of contraception dealt a blow to the progress of foreign-aided and other family planning programs in Latin America. Birth control is a delicate subject in most underdeveloped countries, but it is nowhere so delicate as in those where the Roman Catholic Church is dominant. However, family limitation facilities of a sort unthinkable a few years ago were being established and were gaining acceptance in numerous Latin American countries before Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical. The movement was receiving substantial aid from the United States and other sources.
Recognition of the immensity of the population growth problem, together ...