Contraception, Divorce, Gender Equality and Discrimination
Family Planning and Contraception
The Catholic Church teaches that artificial contraception is morally wrong. This position is most clearly stated in Humanae Vitae (1968), written by Pope Paul VI. The document argues that every act of sexual intercourse must remain open to both its unitive dimension (deepening love between spouses) and its procreative dimension (openness to new life). Deliberately removing the procreative dimension through artificial means — the contraceptive pill, condoms, sterilisation — violates the integrity of the sexual act as God intended it.
The Church does not oppose natural family planning (NFP), which works with the body’s natural fertility cycles. NFP methods (such as monitoring the woman’s cycle to identify fertile and infertile periods) are not considered contraception in the moral sense because no act of intercourse is deliberately made infertile — instead, couples abstain during fertile periods. Catholics who use NFP still respect the principle that each act of intercourse must remain open to life in principle.
Humanae Vitae was published in 1968 by Pope Paul VI. It forbids the use of artificial contraception on the grounds that the unitive and procreative dimensions of marriage cannot be artificially separated. It remains one of the most debated documents in modern Catholic history.
Most Protestant denominations, including the Church of England, accept artificial contraception as a responsible way to plan a family. They argue that responsible parenthood and the wellbeing of existing children and the mother are important factors that a fixed rule about every act cannot accommodate. From the perspective of situation ethics (Joseph Fletcher, 1966), each case should be decided by what maximises love (agape) — and for a couple in poverty or with health concerns, contraception may be the most loving choice. Humanists and atheists generally see contraception as a tool of responsible reproductive choice with no moral problem. Catholics respond that the Church’s teaching is not merely a rule but a statement about the nature of sexual love, and that following it requires virtue, not restriction.
Divorce, Annulment and Remarriage
Divorce is not recognised by the Catholic Church as a valid dissolution of a sacramental marriage. Because marriage is a sacrament — a permanent covenant before God — it cannot simply be dissolved by a civil court. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2382–2386 acknowledges that civil divorce may sometimes be justified as a legal measure to protect financial and civil rights, particularly in cases of abuse or abandonment. But in Catholic teaching, the person remains married before God even after a civil divorce. Remarrying while a first spouse is still living is therefore regarded as adultery.
The Church does, however, offer the process of annulment. This is not the same as divorce — it does not dissolve a marriage but declares that a valid sacramental marriage never existed from the beginning, because one or both parties lacked the capacity, freedom or intention required for a valid marriage. If a marriage is annulled, both parties are free to marry in the Church. Annulments require an investigation by a Church tribunal and are not automatic.
Catechism 2382–2386: civil divorce does not dissolve a sacramental marriage before God. Remarriage after divorce without annulment is regarded as adultery. Annulment is the Church’s ruling that a valid sacramental marriage never existed — not a Catholic divorce. Distinction is crucial in the exam.
Equality of Men and Women in the Family
Catholic teaching holds that men and women are equal in dignity before God but have complementary roles in the family. Catechism 2207 states that the family is “the original cell of social life” and that within the family, both parents have essential roles. The Church values what it calls “the dignity of work within the home” — the contribution of whoever carries out domestic and childcare work, whether mother or father, is considered genuinely valuable and not less important than paid employment.
Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body” (a series of catechetical lectures given 1979–1984) offers a deeper philosophical framework. John Paul II argued that the body itself is a “theology” — its sexual differentiation as male and female reflects the self-giving love that defines the Trinity and that finds its human expression in marriage. This approach respects the embodied difference between men and women while insisting on their equal dignity and worth.
Gender Prejudice and Discrimination
The Catholic Church officially opposes all forms of gender prejudice and discrimination. Catechism 1935 states that “every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design.” Catechism 1938 adds that the “sinful inequalities” still affecting millions of people contradict the Gospel and demand fairer, more humane conditions. These are strong and explicit statements. Within Catholic families and communities, both men and women should be treated with equal respect and given equal opportunity to develop their gifts.
The question of the role of women in the Church is a point of divergence within Christianity. The Catholic and Orthodox churches do not ordain women as priests, arguing that Jesus chose only male apostles and that this reflects a permanent theological intention, not a cultural accident. The Church of England and most Protestant denominations do ordain women, arguing that the principle of equality in Christ (“there is neither male nor female” — Galatians 3:28) outweighs the argument from historical practice. Catholics respond that women hold vitally important roles in the Church as religious sisters, catechists, liturgical ministers and leaders of lay movements, even without ordination.
Situation ethics, developed by Joseph Fletcher in 1966, argues that love (agape) should guide every moral decision contextually, without rigid rules. Applied to divorce, this might mean that if a marriage has irretrievably broken down and both parties are suffering, the most loving course is separation and the freedom to remarry. Applied to gender roles, situation ethicists would argue that whatever enables human beings to flourish and love one another is morally correct, regardless of traditional role boundaries. Catholics respond that situation ethics sounds compassionate but can justify almost any action if framed in terms of “love,” and that the natural law framework of Catholic ethics provides more reliable guidance for human flourishing over time than case-by-case judgement.