ROMAN CATHOLIC priests are privately advising parishioners that the use of artificial contraception is acceptable, in defiance of the Pope’s view that such methods are “intrinsically evil”.

Inquiries by The Sunday Times have revealed that while they condemn the “sin” of contraception from the pulpit, priests are privately advising that the pill, condoms and other artificial methods of birth control are permissible.

One priest told our reporter: “Wear a condom. You are not sinning if you use a condom and it keeps your family together.”

The English Catholic Church is under pressure from the Vatican for its liberal views. The revelation that priests have cast aside teachings on sexual ethics could cause a controversy within the church similar to the Anglican split over homosexuality.

Pope John Paul II has repeatedly emphasised his opposition to artificial contraception. “No personal or social circumstances could ever, can now or will ever render such an act (using contraception) lawful in itself,” he has said.

This, however, is not how the issue is being interpreted in Britain. Acting on evidence that the clergy was now taking a loose approach to the issue, The Sunday Times approached 14 priests at random.

Eight of them in England and Scotland were willing to advise that it would not be sinful to consider using contraception. The English were more liberal than the Scots.

The reporter visited churches posing as a Catholic parent of five who wanted to limit the size of his family. At a church in Hackney, east London, he told a priest that his wife had just had a fifth child. He did not know how he was going to look after his existing children.

The priest was quick to offer help. “Strictly speaking, I should be discouraging you from using contraception,” he said. “But you’re facing a reality and it’s called ‘the fifth child’ and you don’t want six.”

During similar conversations in London, Liverpool, Warrington and Manchester, the reporter was given further encouragement to follow his conscience.

A priest from Liverpool said: “There is no black and white any more. It’s all grey. It would be hypocritical of me to stand here and say, ‘This is what you have got to do’.”

However, many priests still believed that the “rhythm method” is the only acceptable form of birth control. In Scotland, two of the four priests approached were adamant that condoms could not be condoned. “Using a condom is stopping the way God has made us,” said one.

The latest news will make uncomfortable reading for Archbishop Pablo Puente, the Pope’s representative in Britain. His first choices for the archbishopric of Southwark were recently rejected because, according to Vatican sources, they were too progressive. “There was tremendous anger,” one official said.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, who is in charge of the Vatican’s family policy, has caused further controversy by suggesting that condoms do not prevent Aids. The World Health Organisation claims: “These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20m people and currently affects at least 42m people.”

Yesterday, George Stack, auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, was critical of the priests who had directed our reporter to use contraception. “It is not for a priest to give such directions but rather to hold out the ideals of the church and explain the reasons why,” he said.

Additional reporting: Sarah Keenlyside

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