Cathal Barry
Remarks by Pope Francis that Catholic women with Zika virus might be able to use contraception do not change Church teaching, a leading moral theologian has said.
Zika virus has been linked by some to birth defects in babies, especially microcephaly which causes them to be born with abnormally small heads, but the link has not been proven.
When asked about the issue by journalists on the flight home from Mexico, Pope Francis said: “Paul VI — the great! — in a difficult situation, in Africa, permitted sisters to use birth control for cases of violence. It’s necessary not to confuse the evil of avoiding pregnancy, by itself, with abortion… avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil, and in certain cases, as in that I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear.”
Commenting on his remarks, Dr John Murray, who lectures in moral theology at Dublin’s Mater Dei Institute of Education, said: “It seems to me that the comments are being over-interpreted as the Pope suddenly changing Church teaching, when in fact that certainly isn’t the case.
Theology
“The whole issue of using contraception in self-defence, [which applies to the nuns in Africa who were in danger of being raped] is recognised in Catholic moral theology but it’s not a Church teaching like you find in Humanae Vitae so I think his reference to Pope Paul VI has been questioned as to whether or not that was accurate.”
Dr Murray also noted that Brazil’s bishops had “already addressed the issue”, pointing out that “if a woman or a married couple need to avoid pregnancy that it can be done using natural family planning in most cases”.
“There could be some exceptional cases where it couldn’t be, for example if the husband was unwilling to use natural family planning, in that case it gets complicated, but I don’t think that kind of complication is the kind of thing that should be addressed at a press conference.
“The Pope was speaking off the cuff and is very comfortable doing so but everything and anything he says is being used to promote agendas against the Church’s teaching which isn’t helpful,” he said.