The Vatican has hit back at allegations made by dissident Catholic groups calling on Pope Benedict XVI to reverse what they said was the Catholic church's "catastrophic" stance on contraception. The groups, from countries including Britain, Brazil, Canada, France and the US, wrote an open letter to the pontiff published in the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, on Friday. The letter, the publication of which was paid for by the groups, appeared on the 40th anniversary of the late Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Humanae vitae (On the Regulation of Birth), which declared it a sin to use such methods as the contraceptive pill and the condom. In the letter, the signatories allege the effects of the Vatican's condemnation of artificial birth control had been "catastrophic", especially in poor countries of the world. The letter...
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