 Artificial birth control predates Christianity ; the Catholic Church has condemned these methods throughout its history . In response to the Church of England accepting the practice of artificial contraception in 1930 , the Catholic Church issued the papal encyclical <unk> <unk> on 31 December 1930 . The 1968 papal encyclical <unk> <unk> is a <unk> of the Catholic Church 's traditional view of marriage and marital relations , and a continued condemnation of artificial birth control . 
