Does the Catholic Church prohibit [Male] Catholics from having vasectomies?
Prohibit? No. Teach that artificial contraception including vasectomies are not what God wants? Yes. The Catholic Church believes that God allows natural forms of birth control. In his Angelus address on July 17, 1994, Pope John Paul II restated the Church’s position: “Unfortunately, Catholic thought is often misunderstood … as if the Church supported an ideology of fertility at all costs, urging married couples to procreate indiscriminately and without thought for the future. But one need only study the pronouncements of the Magisterium to know that this is not so. Truly, in begetting life the spouses fulfill one of the highest dimensions of their calling: they are God’s co-workers. Precisely for this reason they must have an extremely responsible attitude. In deciding whether or not to have a child, they must not be motivated by selfishness or carelessness, but by a prudent, conscious generosity that weighs the possibilities and circumstances, and especially gives priority to the w
