MYTH
The Catholic Church wants people to have as many babies as possible.
REALITY
In fact the Catholic Church encourages people to be both generous and responsible stewards over their fertility.
In this view of "responsible parenthood" married couples carefully think about the just reasons they may have to postpone pregnancy. When making decisions about the number and spacing of children in their family, they weigh their responsibilities to God, each other, the children they already have, and the world in which they live.
Responsible parenthood is lived within the structures that God has established in human nature. The nature of sexual intercourse, which is both life-giving (procreative) and love-giving (unitive), reflects a Divine plan. That is why the Church teaches that husband and wife must not actively intervene to separate their fertility from their bodily union. NFP methods respect the Divine plan and are at the service of authentic married love.