The many Roman Catholic voices, lay and clerical alike, clamoring for change in the church's stand against contraception are deeply eroding the force of Rome's ban on birth control.
Three years ago, Pope John XXIII quietly appointed a small pontifical commission to study birth control. After John's death, Paul VI enlarged it, but the experts found themselves hopelessly divided about how to update the church's position. Pope Paul recently revamped the commission again by naming 16 top prelates as members—and let them know that he would like to have some sort of consensus by June. The very reconsideration of the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
