UK Bishop Acknowledges that Most Catholics Have Rejected the Church Ban on Contraception

Kieran Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and head of Evangelization and Catechesis in England and Wales, admitted in September that most Catholics have rejected the church ban on contraception, according to the Tablet. Conry said in reference to the 1968 Humanae Vitae encyclical, which the hierarchy cites as the basis of its condemnation of modern contraception, “It’s important to remember that [author] Pope Paul VI made it quite clear you follow your conscience.” In addition, the bishop observed, “Many people may not be happy with what the Church says but it seems this is not turning people away.” He concluded that Catholics had followed their conscience when deciding whether or not to use contraception and live “with ambiguity” as far as the church’s position was concerned.