Political Power of Roman Catholic Bishops. Author John M. Swomley highlights the chronology of the Roman Catholic Bishops’ opposition to birth control beginning in 1921 when New York Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes arranged for the arrest of Margaret Sanger to prevent her from delivering a speech on birth control. He concludes with a description of the silence of Protestant churches about Catholic pressures on the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. From: The Human Quest, May-June 1992

Pronatalist Zealotry and Reproductive Rights: How Catholic Militants Seized Control of U.S. Family Planning Programs. Author Roland Van Liew reveals:        The [Roman Catholic] Church's role in dismantling U.S. government support for family planning and rational population policies has been shrouded in secrecy and protected by a code of silence in the press. But there are clear indications of a frontal assault on our political system.

There is startling new evidence that the Church wields highly effective and illicit political influence. From: Free Inquiry, Spring 1992.

Overcoming Overpopulation: The Rise and Fall of American Political Will. Stephen D. Mumford describes the work of Vatican activists in undermining efforts to implement any population growth control policy by the US government and how Catholic bishops issued their Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities just six days before President Ford made the NSSM 200 report public policy. He shows the plan as a frank and superbly detailed blueprint of the bishops' strategy for infiltrating and manipulating the American democratic process at the national, state and local levels. This report details the three-pronged attack, one devoted to each of the three branches of our federal government: legislative, judicial, and administrative. The purpose is to kill the political will of the United States to overcome the overpopulation problem. From: Free Inquiry, Spring 1994

FATHER McCORMACK'S EXPOSÉ from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 13 - by Stephen D. Mumford. Father Arthur McCormack was the Vatican consultant to the UN on population for 23 years until 1979 when he was replaced by Bishop James McHugh of New Jersey. He was probably the most knowledgeable man on the subject of population in the Catholic Church. McCormack's attack on the Vatican is the sharpest made to date on this topic. Given the forcefulness of his words, one must suspect that the Vatican and McCormack had access to a copy of NSSM 200.

Introduction from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200 by Stephen D. Mumford

LEADERSHIP OF THE POPULATION MOVEMENT from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 12 - by Stephen D. Mumford

DISTORTION OF THE CHURCH'S IMAGE from: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200, Chapter 13 - by Stephen D. Mumford

National Security Study Memorandum 200: World Population Growth And U.S. Security delineates the development and major findings of this important study NSSM 200. Author Stephen D. Mumford reveals: “In March, 1970, the U.S. Congress created The Commission on Population Growth and the American Future, which completed its work in March 1972. Its final report offered more than 70 recommendations. Collectively, they constituted a detailed blueprint for a superb national population policy.”

And uncovers why this commission's final report was ignored.

“In the words of a Commission member, Congressman James Scheuer (D.-NY): "The reasons were obvious -- the fear of attacks from the far right and from the Roman Catholic Church because of our positions on family planning and abortion. With the benefit of hindsight, it is now clear that this obstruction was the first of many similar actions to come from high places."

Then Dr. Mumford goes on to describe the commissioning of the NSSM 200 study, its major findings and the Vatican’s responsibility in the failure to implement the study’s recommendations. From: The Social Contract, Vol. III, No. 2, Winter 1992-93

EXCERPTS * FROM THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NSSM 200: HOW THE DESTRUCTION OF POLITICAL WILL DOOMED A U.S. POPULATION POLICY by Stephen Mumford reviews the history of US efforts to define, develop and implement a comprehensive population policy, as well as the work of Roman Catholics within the government to undermine the progress of important proposals. From selected passages of his book, Mumford gives examples of Vatican activists in and out of the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush administrations. Reagan’s “Catholic team” included devout Roman Catholics CIA chief William Casey, [Richard] Allen [Reagan’s first National Security Advisor], [William] Clark [Reagan’s second National Security Advisor], [Alexander] Haig [Secretary of State], [Vernon] Walters [Ambassador at Large] and William Wilson, Reagan’s first ambassador to the Vatican. This report also quotes Cardinal John O’Connor of New York, “The fact is that attacks on the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion - unless they are rebutted - effectively erode Church authority on all matters, indeed on the authority of God himself. "

Mumford clearly makes the case that: "Had the recommendations of NSSM 200 been implemented in 1975, the world would be very different today. The prospects would have improved for every nation and people to be significantly more secure. There would be less civil and regional warfare, less starvation and hunger, a cleaner environment and less disease, greater educational opportunities, expanded civil rights, especially for women, and a political climate more conducive to the expansion of democracy." FOCUS Vol. 8, No. 11998

Pronatalist Zealotry And Population Pressure Conflicts: How Catholics Seized Control Of U.S. Family Planning Programs by R.T. Ravenholt, M.D., MPH, Former Director, Office of Population (1966-79) of the United States Agency for International Development, chronicles his fourteen year effort to establish a population program within USAID, his eventual removal and dilution of the project.

And how ".... Right-to Life" adversaries invoked the assistance of two Roman Catholics, Congressman Clement Zablocki of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and his assistant, John H. Sullivan, to attack AID's population program...”

And how ".... another Catholic, then Deputy Administrator, John H. Murphy.... and others, created a task force for the purpose of reorganizing and thereby decapitating the Office of Population.”

And how ".... with the help of Jimmy Carter and his political appointees, religious zealots finally managed to degrade AID's population program by placing the two Federal agencies with family planning programs under Catholic control.”

Concludes with a statement by President George Bush, written while he was the U.S. Representative to the United Nations and published as the foreword to Phyllis Piotrow's book, World Population Crisis: The United States Response. This document reveals the political costs of taking a stand against the Vatican and, when seen through the lens of history, provides some insight on why Bush turned against the needs of the world and supported the Vatican during his presidency.

Tobacco and Money! Where is Vatican Dogma And Morality In Tobacco Alliance? Author John M. Swomley reveals the real political priorities of the Catholic Cardinals who denounced President Clinton for his veto of the abortion bill, but have made no similar denunciations of the connection between the tobacco industry, Jesse Helms, Robert Dole and other key Republican supporters of tobacco. From: The Human Quest, July-August, 1996

One Nation Under God . . . John M. Swomley reveals a massive political campaign by the Catholic church to achieve religious and political control of crucial American policies and institutions, an undertaking which the popular press and television have virtually ignored. Dr. Swomley discusses the successes of the campaign. Catholic bishops have established an organization in each parish, diocese, state and on other levels and have demonstrated their ability to control political and judicial offices. Form: The Humanist, May-June 1998

War and the Population Explosion: Some Ethical Implications. John M. Swomley gives evidence of the planetary population problem, the dynamics of the world’s population wars, the responsibility of the world’s “superpowers”, the new ethical dimension of war provided by the Roman Catholic Church’s world wide influence.  He argues that the solutions to overpopulation and disease lie with the United States and the American people requiring changes in our approach to social ethics and to our national politics. From: Christian Ethics Today, June 1998