Last week the press picked up a story about a move by an Indian Catholic bishops’ council to promote larger families. The story is both too intriguing not to generate a response and too vague to allow much in the way of an argument based on facts. Below, I will humbly attempt to construct an argument with a hint of academic integrity out of fodder much more suitable for blogs and editorial rants.

Let us begin with a few facts; India is the second most populous country in the world and predictions have it replacing China in the top spot within a decade or so. Overall, the growth rate is slowing but further rapid population growth is still seen as threatening by many. The government of India is actively debating population management strategies and just last year announced incentives for newly weds who delay having children. In this context, the Kerala Bishops’ Council has reportedly begun encouraging larger families with promises of free schooling and medical care. One congregation even offers money in the form of a bond redeemable at a later date for the fifth child.

The report does not say to what extent this is a top-down, not a grass-roots, movement or to what degree it constitutes a response to proposed legislation that would limit family size. On the other hand, it freely suggests that a growing Muslim population may be the real motivation behind this move. For all its shortcomings, the story has made international headlines; will the Vatican respond? And if so, how?

Firstly, the Vatican will not condemn support for large families as such. An unexpected pregnancy or a multiple-birth can render superfluous prior family planning and openness for these unexpected additions by families and communities is seen as a virtue. Secondly, the Vatican strongly opposes government regulation of births and would support protests against bills of this sort. Thirdly, concerns for over-population will be downplayed. The Pope denies that population growth is a cause for alarm, but argues instead that is a potential benefit to developing nations. He cites unfair systems of distribution and lack of economic development as greater concerns than population pressures.

However, the question that needs answered is; if it is unjust for the state to interfere with family planning is it just for the Church to offer incentives for certain decisions? Here we can refer to section 10 of Humanae Vitae.

“With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.”

Here both decisions for and against having more children are described as responsible and moral, but we should note the apparent preference favoring the decision to have more children. Additionally, one accusation made against natural family planning (the Vatican-approved form of regulating birth) is its propensity towards creating larger families. Thus the present development in Kerala is an opportunity for the Vatican to clarify the difference, if one exists, between support for an openness to children and encouraging large families. Without a response, the Vatican substantiates the claim that it not only opposes artificial contraception but actively seeks the creation of large families with all the consequences this entails.