032474  ncr Rome to reinforce policy

LONDON (RNS) The London Times claimed here that the Vatican has launched a campaign to reinforce the Catholic position on birth control during the 1974 World Population Year program endorsed by the United Nations.

It said the Vatican s position was made known in a confidential document sent to each of the national hierarchies throughout the world.

A story written by Clifford Longley, The Times' religious affairs correspondent, said that the existence of the document became known in Rome some weeks ago. The full text, he said, was passed on to The Times by a "Catholic source" opposed to the Vatican's position on birth control.

The document, Longley said, urges mobilization of all legitimate forms of pressure on governments and international agencies in order to have Catholic teaching on birth control spread as far as possible and accepted as widely as possible.