Clifford Longley (7 December) speaks of dishonesty in the issuing of the encyclical Humanae Vitae. How many are aware that this extends further in a subtle change of the text when it comes to the catechism? Humanae Vitae talks of a contraceptive act as “intrinsically dishonest” (intrinsice inhonestum) (n. 14), but when the catechism refers to the same encyclical paragraph the term used is “intrinsically evil” (intrinsice malus) (2370). Whatever the precise meaning of the encyclical’s terminology the catechism, widely promoted as the official teaching reference, raises the severity of illicitness of the contraceptive act. Longley’s statement about a minority acceptance of the ban on artificial contraception most likely reflects the lived experience of Ca