Melinda Gates says ‘very liberal’ priest influenced her break from Church teaching on contraception

Catholic Vote ^ | April 23, 2025 | Rachel Quackenbush

[Morgana]

CV NEWS FEED // Melinda French Gates said she experienced “almost a crisis of faith” before embracing a pro-contraception stance, citing a “very liberal” priest as a key influence in her decision to diverge from Catholic teaching.

In an April 17 interview on The Jamie Kern Lima Show, the philanthropist and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation described how her travels to underserved areas exposed her to families living without contraceptives, People reported. Gates recounted hearing from women who experienced pregnancies in rapid succession — some of which led to the loss of a child or even the mother’s death.

“[T]hey would talk about children,” she said, according to People. “And both the men and the women knew that when they could space the births of those children, they were better off.”

Gates said those stories prompted a personal spiritual conflict.

“I started to realize, I believe in life. I believe in these children’s lives. The worthiness of them, the inherent beauty on the day they’re born,” she said. “But because of a man-made rule in the church that I am in — the Catholic church — we’re not allowing women to have access to contraceptives. And so talk about an incongruency, right? And I had to really then reckon with my faith.”

She described her struggle as “almost a crisis of faith” and turned to scholars at Notre Dame to better understand Church teaching.

Her perspective shifted, she said, after reading the writings of Father Richard Rohr — whom she inaccurately described as a Jesuit. Fr. Rohr is a Franciscan friar and author widely known for promoting progressive theology and spirituality, including positions that diverge from the Magisterium.

“I need to actually unlearn some of these things,” Gates said, “because I can’t square the circle.”

Gates said she ultimately concluded that she believes “in the dignity of life” but felt compelled to speak publicly in support of contraception, believing she had a responsibility to use her platform to advocate for what she called “a tool” for women.

---

TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: abortion; cafeteriacatholic; catholic; franciscan; gayactivist; gayfranciscan; heretic; lataesententiae; melidagates; notredame; prolife; richardrohr

[Morgana]

Melida you need to read LESS of Father Richard Rohr and more of Father Paul Marx

I have almost all of Father Marx's books

[Morgana]

More on Father Paul Marx

https://www.hli.org/about-us/hli-founder-father-paul-marx-osb/

Father Paul Marx, O.S.B., was often referred to as “the father of the international pro-life movement” and was called an “Apostle of Life” by Pope John Paul II (1991). Fr. Marx traveled over three million miles visiting all 50 states and 91 countries in his over 40 years of pro-life advocacy to defend the sanctity of human life.

Fr. Marx was ordained to the priesthood on June 15, 1947 by the Order of St. Benedict. After nearly two decades on the faculty of St. John’s University, his order permitted him to dedicate himself to the fight for life and family full-time. Seeing the advance of anti-life forces before most did, he founded the Human Life Center in 1972 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

On November 17 1979, Fr. Marx had an audience with Pope St. John Paul II. After describing to the Holy Father his international work, Fr. Marx remembered, “For an uncomfortably long time, the Pope looked at me as if in prayer, and then finally said, ‘You have lots of experience. You must bring this pro-life, pro-family movement all over the earth; and if you do that, you will be doing the most important work on earth.’” Two years later, the Human Life Center became Human Life International (HLI), the world’s first and largest international pro-life organization. Fr. Marx was president of HLI until his retirement in 1999.

Fr. Marx held a Doctorate in Family Sociology from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. He authored over one dozen books, including The Death Peddlers: War on the Unborn (1971), Death Without Dignity: Killing for Mercy (1982), Confessions of a Pro-Life Missionary (1988), Fighting for Life (1989), The Flying Monk (1990), The Warehouse Priest (1993), and his autobiography, Faithful for Life (1997).

Reflecting on his work establishing the global pro-life movement, Fr. Marx said:

As I travel, I am often asked ‘what is my basic and deepest conviction after 36 years of pro-life work, visiting 91 countries and writing 11 books on the subject.’ Without hesitation, I tell such serious questioners: Once you have widespread contraception, you get…. a pervasive, metastasizing moral cancer that destroys the Church, the family, the youth, and the nation…. While we need a variety of pro-life groups hacking away at the anti-life monster, it is enormously futile and indeed grossly shortsighted to overlook the chief source of baby-killing, which is contraception.

Fr. Marx’s legacy is a pro-life organization that is truly holistic, defending the dignity of human life and the foundation of marriage and family that it rests upon.

President Ronald Reagan once wrote a personal letter to Fr. Marx saying, “You can be proud of all you’ve done to summon this Nation and others to reflection and positive action on issues affecting the sanctity of human life. God bless you.”

[BenLurkin]

Is she going to try and put up the "Guidestones" again?

[stanne]

She’s an idiot for all that money

Birth control is bad

Read the basic on this

Humane vitae.

[nwrep]

We’ve lost that battle on earth.

[Gay State Conservative]

I doubt that Melinda Gates needs much coaxing to embrace the Maoist position on any of today’s...or tomorrow’s...topics of discussion.

[alternatives?]

You look around until you find someone who tells you what you want to hear. It is easier if you have a lot of money.

[Democrat = party of treason]

And the world cares what she says because?

[stanne]

“ We’ve lost that battle on earth.”

Again. Read Humana’s vitae

Jesus doesn’t foment your loser attitude

[Liz]

Gates knows zilch about the intellectuality of her faith.......
the ability to engage in critical thinking and reasoning.

A key teaching of Catholicism, is “free will”..... the capacity, given by God, for humans to make deliberate choices and act with responsibility. It’s a gift of God’s love that allows individuals to choose good or evil, with the ultimate goal of pursuing a relationship with God and living a virtuous life. This ability to choose is rooted in reason and will, enabling humans to shape their own lives and grow in virtue.

God-given gift: Catholics believe God has endowed humanity with the ability to choose, allowing for the possibility of love, growth, and salvation, or conversely, the possibility of sin and destruction.

Responsibility and virtue: Free will comes with the responsibility to choose what is good and true, which is called virtue. Conversely, choosing what is not good or true is considered sin, according to Catholic teaching.

Not a license for any choice: While free will is a fundamental aspect of human dignity, it’s not a license to do whatever one wants. Catholics believe that freedom is not the freedom to choose what is right and wrong, but rather the freedom to choose good or evil, with the ultimate goal of aligning one’s will with God’s will.

God’s plan and free will: The Catholic Church acknowledges the existence of God’s plan for the world and humanity, including the role of free will. God’s omniscience doesn’t negate free will; rather, it allows God to know in advance what individuals will choose, even while they remain free to choose.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Melinda will be standing right next to Bill in her orange jumpsuit when the Nuremberg II trials begin.

[SaxxonWoods]

Better Headline: Melinda Gates Admits She’s an Idiot Who Can’t Think for Herself.

[faucetman]

YES. “church shopping”. You keep trying different churches (pastors, priests, reverends, ministers) until you find one that agrees with YOU!

Church is where they take your money, your time, your kids, and give you FALSE teachings about God.

What not to LOVE? /s

The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost/Spirit, and your bible is all you need.

If you want to go to church just to socialize, fine. Just don’t give them your money, your time, your kids and see just how fast they lose interest in you.

Don’t argue the bible teachings with the pastor, priest, reverend, or minister because THEY went to a place of “higher learning” or at least an online correspondence school.

THEY know BETTER than YOU! /s

The bible is TRUTH.

The Holy Spirit/Ghost will guide you.

Jesus will NEVER leave you.

Luke 15:4-7 NIV

4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Notice how you cannot find an uniterrupted video of the destruction of the Georgia Guidestones? Just one with that gap in the middle.

I distinctly remember the full version showing unmistakably that it was taken out by a missile. They guy running up to it at the beginning could not have been carrying a bomb that big. He was running unencumbered like a gazelle. He stuck an IR or thermal target on the stones, then fired a shoulder-fired missile at it. This was an inside job. The Georgia Guidestones were a symbol of their plans to exterminate most of Earth’s human population and people were catching on. They wanted to dispose of the evidence. The debris was gone within days.

[af_vet_1981]

Melinda French Gates said she experienced “almost a crisis of faith” before embracing a pro-contraception stance

What faith ?

This is the faith she should have.

Luke 12:
[4] And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
[5] But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.


Revelation 1:
[10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
[11] Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
[12] And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
[13] And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
[14] His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
[15] And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
[16] And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
[17] And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
[18] I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

[Liz]

Gates also needs to get grounded on the Catholic teaching of “Presumption and Despair”
characterized by opposing sins against hope, considered a sought after theological virtue.
<><>Presumption involves excessive hope,
<><>belief in salvation without effort or repentance,
<><>despair is the complete abandonment of hope for salvation, believing it impossible.

Presumption is characterized by a misplaced confidence in God’s mercy and power, leading one to expect salvation without proper effort or repentance. It involves assuming salvation is guaranteed regardless of one’s actions or lack thereof. Presumption can be seen as a manifestation of pride, as it suggests a lack of humility and recognition of one’s need for God’s grace.

The Catholic church considers pride a grievous sin.....
as in its teaching that “pride goeth before a fall.”

Despair is the complete Abandonment of Hope. Despair is the opposite of presumption, involving a complete loss of hope in God’s mercy and forgiveness. Believing Salvation Impossible: It is characterized by the belief that one’s sins are too great to be forgiven or that God is incapable of granting salvation. Despair can hinder the process of repentance and seeking forgiveness, as it leads to the feeling that it is futile to hope for God’s grace.

Presumption is an excessive hope, while despair is a complete lack of hope. Presumption ignores the need for effort and repentance, while despair denies the possibility of salvation through God’s grace. Presumption can be linked to pride, while despair can be a consequence of hopelessness. In short, despair is an obstacle to seeking God’s forgiveness – which one in a state of despair thinks is impossible.

[butlerweave]

Melida Who ?

[F450-V10]

And because they follow the’seamless garment’ theory, abortion is always OK if contraception is ok.

[dljordan]

Hey Melinda, tell us a story about Bill and Epstein island.

[BarbM]

Melinda will be standing right next to Bill in her orange jumpsuit when the Nuremberg II trials begin.
_____________________________________________________

And that priest may be one of the many priests in hell. Fr. Altier saus that there are more Popes, Bishops and Prriets in hell than there are in heaven.

The Gates may be with them. Divine Mercy.