Is contraception allowed under certain circumstances?

Q: We are firm in the Catholic faith and believe the teachings of the Catholic Church against contraception. However, are Catholics allowed to contracept under certain circumstances?

A: No. The teaching of the Church is:

"...there are objects of the human act which are by their nature "incapable of being ordered" to God, because they radically contradict the good of the person made in his image. These are the acts which, in the Church's moral tradition, have been termed "intrinsically evil" (intrinsece malum): they are such always and per se, in other words, on account of their very object, and quite apart from the ulterior intentions of the one acting and the circumstances. Consequently, without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that "there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object" [John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, no. 80]

"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." (Pontifical Council for the Family, Vademecum for Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life, Februrary 12, 1997]

What follows is a compilation for ecclesial texts which present the Church's doctrine against contraception. I will continue to add to this list as I find more texts. This will allow you to study further what the Church teaches from ecclesial texts.

God bless,

Dave

1. Pius XI, Casti Connubii
2. Pius XII, Address to Midwives
3. Paul VI, Gaudium et Spes
   
4. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae
5. Pontifical Council for the Family, Vademecum for Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life
6. CDF, Donum Vitae
7. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor
8. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio
9. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae
10. John Paul II, Gratissimam Sane
11. John Paul II, Theology of the Body
12. Benedict XVI, Address on the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae
13. Benedict XVI, Message on the Occasion of the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae