EWTN News reports that Gallup’s 2026 Values and Beliefs poll shows a decrease in social acceptance of birth control, having children outside of marriage, gambling, and other moral issues. While the article presents this as a hopeful sign, it fundamentally misdiagnoses the disease: the problem is not shifting public opinion, but the absolute, unchanging moral law of God that no poll can alter. The very framing of morality as a matter of social acceptance reveals the rot of modernism that has infected even those who claim to defend the faith.
The Idolatry of Public Opinion: When Polls Replace the Moral Law
The article opens with a breathtaking admission of philosophical bankruptcy: “Although most Americans view birth control and having children outside of marriage as morally acceptable behaviors, that support saw a significant drop according to Gallup’s 2026 Value and Beliefs poll.” The very structure of this sentence reveals the modernist heresy that has penetrated even Catholic discourse: morality is measured by social acceptance, not by the eternal law of God. This is precisely the error condemned by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors, which anathematized the proposition that “moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction” (error 56) and that “authority is nothing else but numbers and the sum total of material forces” (error 60).
The Gallup poll tracks American views on 20 subjects with moral implications, asking whether behaviors are “morally acceptable” or “morally wrong.” This framing itself is a capitulation to relativism. As St. Pius X taught in Lamentabili sane exitu, “truth changes with man, because it develops with him, in him, and through him” (error 58) — this is the very essence of the modernist heresy. The Catholic position is the opposite: truth is immutable, and man must conform himself to it. The poll does not measure moral reality; it measures the depth of societal apostasy.
Joseph Meaney, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, is quoted as saying: “It is hopeful to see clear moral violations like using birth control and out-of-wedlock pregnancy losing support in American society.” This statement, while well-intentioned, reveals a dangerous accommodation to the spirit of the age. Hope does not lie in shifting polls but in the unchanging truth of God’s law. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas, “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The reign of Christ the King is not established by Gallup polls but by the submission of every human will to the divine law.
The Unchanging Moral Law: What the Church Has Always Taught
The article notes that “societal acceptance for having children outside of marriage went down by nine points” and “acceptance of birth control went down by seven points.” But what does this actually mean? It means that 58% of Americans still believe having children outside of marriage is morally acceptable, and 83% believe birth control is morally acceptable. These are not signs of hope; they are symptoms of a civilization in advanced stages of moral collapse.
The Catholic teaching on these matters is clear and unchanging. Marriage is a sacrament instituted by Christ, and its primary end is the procreation and education of children. As the Code of Canon Law (1917) states, “the primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children” (Canon 1013 §1). Birth control is intrinsically evil because it frustrates the natural act of its God-given purpose. As Pope Pius XI taught in Casti Connubii (1930), “any use whatsoever of marriage exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature.”
Having children outside of marriage is not merely a social problem; it is a violation of the divine order. The family is not a human institution subject to democratic revision but a divine institution established by God Himself. As Pope Leo XIII taught in Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae (1880), “the family is the cradle of civil society, and it is in the family that the virtues necessary for social life are first learned.” When the family is destroyed, society itself is destroyed.
The Partisan Divide: A Distraction from the Real Issue
The article devotes considerable attention to the “partisan divide” on these issues: “76% of Democrats viewing it as morally acceptable, along with 56% of independents and 44% of Republicans.” This is a classic example of the modernist reduction of morality to politics. The Catholic Church does not recognize a “partisan divide” on moral issues. As Pope Pius IX declared in the Syllabus of Errors, “the Church has the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion” (condemning the opposite proposition in error 21). The truth is not determined by party affiliation.
The article notes that “Republicans being more likely to view the death penalty as morally acceptable and Democrats being more likely to view abortion and doctor-assisted suicide as morally acceptable.” This framing is deeply misleading. The death penalty is morally permissible under certain conditions, as the Church has consistently taught. Abortion and doctor-assisted suicide are intrinsically evil — there is no “partisan divide” on this, only truth and error. The fact that the article presents these as equivalent “partisan” positions is itself a form of the relativism it claims to oppose.
The Silence on the Root Cause: The Apostasy of the Conciliar Sect
The most glaring omission in this article is any mention of the root cause of the moral collapse: the apostasy of the conciar sect and its systematic destruction of Catholic moral teaching. The article quotes Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk as saying: “To the extent that Catholics try to stand up for unpopular truths, like the unacceptability of divorce, premarital sex, and birth control… it has the undeniable effect of sparking interest and even awakening the consciences of more worldly-minded individuals.”
But where is the acknowledgment that the conciliar sect itself has failed catastrophically in this regard? Where is the recognition that the post-conciliar “Church” has systematically undermined Catholic moral teaching through its false ecumenism, its embrace of religious liberty, and its capitulation to the spirit of the age? As Pope Pius IX warned in the Syllabus of Errors, “the Roman Pontiff can, and ought to, reconcile himself, and come to terms with progress, liberalism and modern civilization” (error 80) — this is precisely what the conciliar sect has done, and the result is the moral catastrophe documented by the Gallup poll.
The article notes that “societal acceptance for divorce at 74%, for premarital sex at 65%, and for gay and lesbian relationships at 62%.” These numbers are not surprising given that the conciar sect has effectively abandoned the teaching on these issues in practice, even if it maintains them in theory. The “Spirit of Vatican II” has created a culture of dissent in which Catholics are free to ignore the Church’s teaching on moral issues, and the result is that Catholics are indistinguishable from the general population on these questions.
The False Hope of Dialogue
Father Pacholczyk is quoted as saying that these polls “help remind us of the importance of being in dialogue, and actively discussing critical moral issues in an open society, so as to contribute to the formation of human consciences in truth and light.” This is the language of the conciliar sect, not of the Catholic Church. The Church does not engage in “dialogue” with error; she condemns it. As St. Pius X taught in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907), the modernists “propose to reform the Church by means of ‘dialogue’ and ‘openness,’ but in reality they are destroying her from within.”
The Catholic position is not that we should “discuss” moral issues in an “open society” but that we should proclaim the truth without compromise. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas, “the Church, established by Christ as a perfect society, demands for itself by a right belonging to it, which it cannot renounce, full freedom and independence from secular authority.” The Church does not seek the approval of “open society”; she seeks the conversion of all nations to Christ the King.
The Only True Solution: The Social Reign of Christ the King
The article’s framing of the issue — as a matter of shifting social acceptance — is fundamentally flawed. The solution to the moral collapse documented by the Gallup poll is not more “dialogue” or “discussion” but the restoration of the social reign of Christ the King. As Pope Pius XI taught in Quas Primas, “if men were ever to recognize Christ’s royal authority over themselves, both privately and publicly, then unheard-of blessings would flow upon the whole society, such as due freedom, order, and tranquility, and concord and peace.”
The article’s silence on this point is deafening. There is no mention of the duty of rulers and governments to publicly honor Christ and obey Him. There is no mention of the final judgment, in which Christ “will very severely avenge these insults, because His royal dignity demands that all relations in the state be ordered on the basis of God’s commandments and Christian principles.” There is no mention of the fact that “the state is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the state is nothing else than a harmonious association of men” (St. Augustine, quoted by Pius XI in Quas Primas).
The Gallup poll is a symptom of a civilization that has rejected Christ the King. The solution is not to celebrate small shifts in public opinion but to proclaim the fullness of Catholic truth: that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, that His law is the only foundation of morality, and that every nation and every individual must submit to His reign. As Pope Pius XI declared, “the annual celebration of this solemnity will also remind states that not only private individuals, but also rulers and governments have the duty to publicly honor Christ and obey Him.”
Conclusion: The Polls Are Irrelevant — Only God’s Law Endures
The Gallup poll of 2026 is a snapshot of a civilization in moral free-fall. The fact that 83% of Americans believe birth control is morally acceptable, 58% believe having children outside of marriage is morally acceptable, and 74% believe divorce is morally acceptable is not a cause for concern or hope — it is a confirmation of the prophetic warnings of the pre-conciliar popes.
As Pope Pius IX warned in the Syllabus of Errors, the rejection of Christ’s reign leads to “seeds of discord sown everywhere, flames of envy and hostility” engulfing nations, “unbridled desires” cloaked in the guise of public good, “domestic peace completely shattered,” and “the whole society profoundly shaken and heading towards destruction.” This is precisely what we see in America today.
The solution is not more polls, more dialogue, or more “discussion.” The solution is the restoration of the social reign of Christ the King, the submission of every nation and every individual to His law, and the rejection of the modernist heresy that has destroyed the Church from within. As Pope Pius XI declared, “when our life is conformed to the laws of the Divine Kingdom, we shall rejoice heartily in the abundance of salutary effects, and as good and faithful servants of Christ, we shall become participants in eternal happiness in His heavenly Kingdom.”
The polls will continue to shift, but the law of God endures forever. Non praevalebunt — the gates of hell shall not prevail. But they shall not prevail against the true Church, not against the conciliar sect that has betrayed her. Let us pray for the restoration of all things in Christ — not through Gallup polls, but through the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the social reign of Christ the King.
Source:
Gallup poll: Social acceptance of birth control, kids outside of marriage decreases in 2026 (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 10.06.2026