Édouard Gagnon, PSS, OC (15 January 1918 – 25 August 2007) was a Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for the Family for 16 years, from 1974 to 1990.

Upon his return to Montreal, he taught moral theology and canon law at the Grand Seminary from 1945 to 1954.

During this time, he also acted as a peritus (theologian advisor and consultant) during the Second Vatican Council, especially during the 3rd and 4th sessions (1964-1965).

For many years, he was President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and he fully supported the prohibition on contraception in Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae vitae.

On hearing of his death, Pope Benedict XVI said that Cardinal Gagnon was a "faithful pastor who, with an evangelical spirit, consecrated his life in service to Christ and his Church.

The mission ended in failure and Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988, after consecrating four bishops without permission from the Holy See.

[4] Cardinal Gagnon lectured at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C.