Letter published in the Catholic Herald – February

1 February 2012 | Catholic Herald

(Published virtually word for word. Heading by Catholic Herald.)

Paul VI himself described population growth as a “grave problem”

SIR – On 23 June 1964, Pope Paul VI expressed one of his greatest concerns like this: “A problem which everyone talks about is that of birth control, as it is called, namely of population increase on the one hand and family morality on the other. It is an extremely grave problem.” (The Times 24 June 1964)

The letter from the officials of the Association of Catholic Women deals effectively with the family morality side of this extremely grave problem. (February 3) However, the population increase side of this problem is just as important and I hope the Association will investigate it.

Ethiopia, DR Congo, Rwanda, Nigeria, Somalia, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are some of the countries that have doubled their populations twice since 1950. They all have major problems of poverty and civil unrest. Only by controlling their populations can they hope to achieve prosperity and peace. I feel sure that the Association of Catholic Women does not want to deny them this chance.

Gerald Danaher