Hi Bill. 
1. I doubt hordes of people stopped coming to Mass because of HV.  It’s easy to contracept (if you so choose) and still show up.  But if you come and all you get is the NO, there’s really no way round it.  The Vatican, fettered by its self-proclaimed infallibility, has a vested interest in claiming the NO has not driven people away, as does Georgetown-based CARA.  There’s a tremendous element of confirmation bias. I deal with research (form a medical POV) for a living, so I’m well aware of the shortcomings of research, esp for ‘soft’ endpoints.
2. The defects of the NO and of its implementation have nothing to do with the vernacular. I’ve been to Latin NOs and vernacular Tridentine Masses (at Anglo-papist churches).
3. I hate to sound like I’m arguing from authority, but before I did medicine my degree was in linguistics & soc.anthro, so I’m familiar with translation theory.  (Doubt the pope is tho'.)  And the retired translation was in many ways a deliberate mis-translation.