Priest says married couples should buy their own condoms

Married couples who wanted to use artificial contraceptives should use their own money to buy them and the government should not use taxes to acquire the devices in order to distribute them for free, a prominent Catholic priest said Saturday.

Fr. Anton Pascual, president of Church-run Radio Veritas and executive director of Caritas Manila, said the government should not use taxes paid by Catholics to buy artificial contraceptives whose use ran counter to the position of the Church.

He added that Church organizations would hold protests to dissuade lawmakers from setting aside funds in the proposed 2012 national budget to buy and distribute artificial contraceptives.

“For me, if the married couple will use the pill or contraceptives, they should buy it. That’s in their conscience if they want to use it as a sign of responsible parenthood. Be responsible also in your choices. They should buy it and not (have government) give it freely,” Pascual told Radio Veritas.

“In the last analysis, it is the conscience of the couple, not the government or the Church, that will decide what means to use to control the family,” he said.

Reproductive health advocates claim that the government should distribute free artificial contraceptives because many Filipinos are too poor to afford them.

But Pascual said that this was wrong.

“This is the challenge of the Church… that we might have this civil disobedience, which is a sign of nonviolent protests against the erroneous propagation of health and population management, an erroneous program of government,” he added.