Humanae Vitae and Birth Control: Practices and Perspectives from the Ghanaian Catholic

Abstract

The Roman Catholic Church, through the Magisterium teaches the faithful the right way to Christian living. Controversial among these teachings was Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae(On the Regulation of Birth) which indicates that the use of contraceptives is incompatible with the Christian message. This study situated the practices and perspectives of contraception in the context of Humanae Vitae.It then engaged students of the Catholic University College of Ghana on their practices and perspectives regarding the subject matter.The acceptance of the teachings of Humanae Vitae continues to be a critical test casefor the Catholic and Christians not only in Europe and the Americas but also in Ghana.

Keywords: The Church[1], Humanae Vitae, Magisterium, Contraception, Birth control.

[1]In this paper, The Church refers to the Holy Roman Catholic Church.