Sir, – The interview with Pope Francis in Corriere Della Sera was more wide-ranging than would appear from your report ("Pope Francis defends Catholic Church's handling of sex abuse crisis", World News, March 6th).
After dealing with poverty, Marxism, the family and the role of women in the church, the pope was asked: "At half a century from Paul VI's Humanae Vitae , can the church take up again the theme of birth control?"
He responded: "All of this depends on how Humanae Vitae is interpreted."
In December 1970 you published a letter from me which suggested that, on a literal reading of Humanae Vitae , contraception was only proscribed when it made conception impossible – that is, rarely, if ever.
Has the Holy Father been reading back issues of The Irish Times ? – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Cnoc an Stollaire,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Donegal.