PASTORAL LETTER
“The Teachings of the Church
ON Family Planning”
July 31, 1975
To my dear People of God in the Archdiocese of Manila:
As your pastor, I consider
it my duty to call your attention to certain reports, given great prominence
in the Manila newspapers last Wednesday, to the effect that the Government
and the Church have reached full agreement on the Government’s family planning
program. These reports, unless they are clarified, may give rise to the impression
that the Church is now supporting even those means which are totally unacceptable,
means like abortion, sterilization and other artificial methods of limiting
family size.
The Catholic Church, my dear
People of God, has always encouraged responsible parenthood. It has never
opposed family planning provided the means used do not violate the dignity
of the human person or are in accordance with the demands of conjugal love.
While it may be true that some
bishops expressed no objection to the policy of allowing individual couples
to follow their conscience in the choice of methods to use in family planning,
it is also true that their position was motivated by the fact that we live
in a society that is pluralistic, a society made
up of Catholics and non-Catholics, Christian and non-Christian. And it follows
that the Catholic Church has no right to impose its principles on the people
who do not belong to the Catholic faith.
It follows also that if a Catholic
lets his conscience be his guide on this issue, then he must make sure that
his conscience is an upright conscience.
An upright conscience, my dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, is one which is informed. This means that
the owner, if he is to consider himself a good Catholic, must know the teachings
of the Church on the subject. And his actions must be guided by those teachings.
The man who deliberately keeps himself ignorant of those teachings cannot
call himself a true Christian.
The teachings of the Church
on family planning are clear. In limiting the size of the family, a Catholic
couple must use only the natural methods. All other means that use artificial
means are not licit.
An upright conscience, moreover,
is one that is sincere. The couple’s motivations must be honest and unselfish.
A husband and wife who want to limit the number of their children because
they truly cannot afford a big family have a justifiable reason for doing
so. But a couple who practice birth control because they want to buy a new
car may not have the purity of intention that an upright conscience demands.
My dear People of God: The
Church respects the Government's responsibility in making available to the
citizens family planning methods that do not violate their conscience and
religious beliefs. By the same token, the Government must respect the rights
of those citizens who, by the nature of their work, must render family planning
services to the public. I refer, in particular, to Government physicians and
nurses, and to doctors and nurses employed in private organizations, who are
obliged by law to render such services. These doctors and these nurses should
not be punished if, in conscience, they will refuse to participate in operations
that would sterilize a patient or cause a human fetus to be killed.
I repeat: The Church supports
only those family planning methods that are natural and which do not violate
human dignity or interfere with the demands of conjugal love. Let your conscience
be your guide, but first make sure that it is a conscience that is informed,
enlightened and guided. In short, make sure that it is an upright conscience.
May you always be rich in God’s
choicest blessings. And remember, I love you all
very dearly.
(Sgd.) + JAIME L. SIN, D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
Manila, July 31, 1975
