An Open Letter to the Pope

Holy Father, I read recently that you get about 4,000 letters a day which means there is virtually no chance you will read mine if I send it through the post so I´m putting it up here. You are a busy man so I won´t beat about the bush and get to the point – or rather two points.

First I would ask you to reverse the Papal Encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae, "Of Human Life," issued in 1968 by Pope Paul VI  which reaffirmed the Church´s position outlawing artificial birth control as being “intrinsically wrong." This ruling came as a surprise as it went against the wishes of a majority of a Vatican commission which had been investigating the issue and felt the ban should be dropped and people allowed to follow their conscience.

As someone who spent decades in South America you will know at first hand the burden unplanned children have on families, particularly poor people. I don´t know how many Catholics avoid birth control because of the Papal ban but as someone who lives in Brazil I see that many underprivileged families have far too many children to cope. At the same time, better educated women are having fewer children. Most of these are Catholic and break the Papal ruling on contraception with no fear that they have committed a sin. The Vatican´s alternative to contraception is for people to use the “rhythm” method which is so unreliable that it is basically worthless. The use of condoms is also a good way of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.

In short, the ban on contraception is immoral, unfair and unrealistic. It is also one of the favorite targets of the enemies of the Church.

Secondly, I urge you to let married deacons operate as priests in regions where there is a shortage. Once again you must have personal knowledge of this from your time in Peru. In Brazil, we have vast regions in the North where the faithful rarely see a priest. During a sermon at my church last week, the priest said that some believers only have the opportunity to attend mass every two or three months.

I am not advocating allowing priests to marry or have women priests but to use an existing reliable resource. Deacons already have the power to distribute communion, give sermons, oversee baptism, witness marriages and preside at funerals amongst other responsibilities. Why not expand this and allow them to consecrate the Eucharist and give confession in extreme circumstances?

Yours sincerely,

John Brander Fitzpatrick