Jesuit Cardinal Luis Ladaria (pictured), the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, presented differing interpretations during the May 19-20 conference.

The conference, organised by the Jérôme Lejeune International Chair of Bioethics, brought together researchers from Catholic universities.

Cardinal Ladaria defended the encyclical's "prophetic vision" in his address.

"The truth expressed in Humanae Vitae does not change," said the 79-year-old cardinal. "There are too many voices, amplified by modern propaganda media, that contrast with that of the Church."

Ladaria stated that the encyclical remains relevant and addresses the opposing perspectives that view the body as a tool for manipulation. He criticised moral relativism, contraceptive anthropology and transhumanism, arguing that these ideologies diminish the body to a mere object that can be easily controlled.

In contrast, Archbishop Paglia presented a different interpretation of Humanae Vitae in an interview published by Vatican Media.

"The recognition of the unbreakable connection between married love and generation in Humanae Vitae does not mean that every marital act must necessarily bear fruit," explained the 78-year-old Italian archbishop.

"St Paul VI recognises that procreation must be 'responsible' and - as is well known - points to natural methods as the way to exercise this responsibility," he continued.

While Cardinal Ladaria presented the encyclical as an unchanged text, Archbishop Paglia sketched a very different vision.

"I believe continued reflection on the subject is very important, as are wide-ranging discussions. Indeed Pope Francis, speaking about contraception, has said that 'the duty of theologians is research, theological reflection'," the archbishop said.

"We are facing epochal challenges. In the Sixties, the 'pill' was considered a total evil," he continued.

"Today, we face even greater dangers. All human life is at risk if we don't stop a spiralling conflict, the arms race, if we don't stop destroying the environment," Paglia argued.

The clash between Cardinal Ladaria and Archbishop Paglia emerged amidst ongoing debates within the Pontifical Academy for Life. The confrontations shed light on differing perspectives within the Vatican on matters of sexual morality and bioethics.

Sources

La Croix International

CathNews New Zealand

The fact that prominent Catholic conservatives have felt the need to speak out against such a possibility gives some grounds for thinking that, within the Church itself, and under the protection of Pope Francis, a movement for change is underway.

Theologians going back to Thomas Aquinas have said that interfering with sexual intercourse to prevent procreation is a misuse of the human genital organs, and therefore wrong.

Earlier popes had also opposed contraception.

Nevertheless, the development and release of oral contraceptives in 1960, and subsequent evidence that many Catholic couples were using contraception, triggered calls within the Church for a reconsideration of the prohibition.

In response, Pope John XXIII set up a Pontifical Commission on Birth Control, but did not live to see it complete its work.

Instead, the commission sent his successor, Pope Paul VI, a report noting that the Church was already allowing couples to calculate the days of a woman's cycle when she cannot conceive a child and restrict sex to those days.

To this observation the commission added: "it is natural to man to use his skill in order to put under human control what is given by physical nature," and concluded that contraception is permissible if it is part of "an ordered relationship to responsible fruitfulness."

A minority report recommending against changing the Church's teaching was supported by only four of the commission's 72 members.

To most Catholics, therefore, it was a surprise when, in 1968, just two years after receiving the commission's report, Paul VI published his encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life), stating that any "action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation" is "absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children."

The very existence of Humanae Vitae, and its survival without any liberalizing modifications, depended on untimely papal deaths.

John XXIII was a reforming pope, who had convened the Second Vatican Council in order to reconsider a number of Church practices.

Had he lived longer, he might well have accepted the view of the overwhelming majority of the commission he had established.

Without the sudden death of John Paul I, the successor to Paul VI who died only 33 days after his election as pope, the strict prohibition of contraception may not have survived unchanged.

Indeed, when he was Bishop Albino Luciani, John Paul I had favoured a more liberal view of contraception, writing that manufactured progesterone could be used "to distance one birth from another, to give rest to the mother, and to think of the good of children already born, or to be born."

Catholic conservatives believe that Humanae Vitae has permanently settled the question of the use of contraception to avoid pregnancy, notwithstanding the contingencies that affected its promulgation and survival.

If you are willing to believe that God conveys the truth to popes, you may also believe that God works in strange ways.

Doubts about the permanence of the Church's doctrine were raised last year, however, when the Pontifical Academy for Life released Etica Teologica della Vita (Theological Ethics of Life), a volume, in Italian, of more than 500 pages that brings together papers from a seminar along with the text that served as the basis for discussion. Some of the senior Catholic theologians contributing to the discussion suggest that the use of contraceptives in some circumstances may not be wrong. Continue reading

• Peter Singer is Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, is a prolific author and founder of the nonprofit organization The Life You Can Save.

Father Maurizio Chiodi (pictured) made the comments in an interview conducted by Fabrizio Mastrofini, the communications and social media manager of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Chiodi, who has been a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2017, has publicly argued that some circumstances in marriage could "require contraception" as a matter of responsibility.

The interview with Chiodi was presented as a clarification of the work of a 2021 seminar on ethics in which theologians debated a "basic text".

A Vatican-published book synthesising the three-day conference recently came under fire for suggesting that the Catholic Church's constant opposition to the use of contraception in marriage — clarified in the encyclical Humanae vitae — could change.

In the interview published on 19 August Chiodi said "Humanae vitae, like any encyclical, including Veritatis splendor, is an authoritative document, but with no claim to infallibility".

"When it comes to Humanae vitae and the earlier stance contained in Casti connubii — which was even stronger — we are in the realm of doctrina reformabilis (‘reformable doctrine')," he said.

In the interview, Father Chiodi affirms that "contraception is considered an intrinsically evil act."

He goes on to say: "I believe that we should not deny the existence of intrinsically evil acts, but that we need to think together about what an act is at its source, overcoming an objectified interpretation of it, that is, one that is independent of any circumstance, effect and intention in the actions of those involved."

Father Thomas Petri OP, president of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC and a moral theologian, told CNA this month that "even if it's the case that any particular encyclical" such as Humanae vitae "is not infallible, the teaching that it presents is in fact irreformable, because it's part of the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Church".

"In Veritatis splendor John Paul II does say that contraception is an intrinsically evil act, so there can be no reason or purpose for contraception. Benedict XVI gave several speeches in which he spoke about contraception, and it can't be changed. What was true yesterday is true today," Petri noted.

The full interview with Father Chiodi was published in Italian and English and shared on the pontifical academy's Twitter page.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

CathNews NZ

Over the weekend, a tweet sent from the Pontifical Academy for Life's official Twitter account suggested that St Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae was not covered by the doctrine of papal infallibility.

This means it can be subject to change.

"History records by Archbishop Lambruschini confirmed that Paul VI said to him directly that Humanae Vitae was not under infallibility," the Pontifical Academy's official Twitter account said on 6 August.

The academy's now-deleted tweet generated considerable backlash and speculation online.

Many commentators interpreted the statement as suggesting that the landmark encyclical could become the subject of papal review or reform.

The debate began last month with the publication by the Pontifical Academy for Life of a new volume titled Theological Ethics of Life: Scripture, Tradition, Practical Challenges. It includes papers delivered during a conference sponsored by the academy last year.

In the book, some theologians appeared to suggest that in certain limited circumstances couples might be justified in choosing artificial contraception or methods of artificial reproduction.

The academy defended the volume, saying its role as a pontifical academy is to facilitate dialogue among the top theological thinkers of the day about contemporary issues of key interest.

However, critics argued that it was inappropriate for an official Vatican entity to include voices questioning some of the church's core moral teachings.

Ever since Humanae Vitae first appeared in 1968, there's been an active debate over exactly what level of authority it possesses and, by implication, whether one can dissent from it and still be a good Catholic.

The context of Humane Vitae is about using contraception inside marriage.

And, despite what some think, everything the pope says is not infallible.

For a statement to be infallible, the Pope needs to make it clear that he is speaking infallibly and so far no pope has spoken infallibly on moral matters.

Catholic theologians agree that both Pope Pius IX's 1854 definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and Pope Pius XII's 1950 definition of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary are the only instances of papal infallibility.

Both followed wide consultation with the bishops as to whether these doctrines were already believed worldwide.

Sources

• CruxNow
• Gaudium Press
• The Pilar

The man who would become pope - then Bishop Albino Luciani - prepared the document on contraception on behalf of the bishops of Italy's Triveneto region. It was then was given to St Paul VI before he issued his encyclical, Humanae Vitae.

The encyclical upheld the Church's opposition to artificial birth control.

John Paul I's document was not available publicly until 2020.

His initial openness to softening Catholic teaching on contraception and his later support for Paul VI has come to notice on the eve of the World Meeting of Families. His beatification in September is also in sight.

Andrea Tornielli of Vatican News says there is also "a very rare audio tape" of Luciani talking about Church teaching on regulating births.

His comments were made during a conference in 1968 - before Humanae Vitae was released.

"For me this is the biggest theological issue that has ever been dealt with in the Church.

Tornielli quotes Luciani as hoping for a "liberalising" word from Paul VI, saying:

"When there was Arius or Nestorius and they were talking about the two natures in Christ, they were serious issues, yes, but they were understood only at the top of the Church, by theologians and bishops.

"The poor people understood nothing about these things and would say, ‘I adore Jesus Christ, I love the Lord who redeemed me,' and it was all there, there was no danger."

The future Pope John Paul I then said the issue of whether it is permissible under some circumstances to use some forms of birth control, "is a problem that no longer concerns the top leadership of the Church, but the whole Church, all young families."

Vice postulator of John Paul's sainthood cause, Stefania Falasca, says Luciani was interested in "the moral and scientific problems related to birth control".

He studied them "seeking a way in which the application of Catholic doctrine could also take into account the drama of conscience of many believing couples, tormented by the discord between fidelity to magisterial indications and the actual difficulties of life as a couple."

Falasca says by urging a somewhat more liberal position before Humanae Vitae and urging full acceptance of the teaching afterward, Luciani was being Catholic.

"One must distinguish, on the one hand, the reflection and concerns in research by a pastor who is also a dogmatic theologian, close with great pastoral sensitivity to the difficulties of so many Christian couples and therefore in favour of a deepening of Catholic doctrine on the issue and, on the other hand, consider the bishop faithful to a doctrine that had remained substantially and consistently steadfast in its disapproval of contraceptive practices."

It's also important to "consider the bishop faithful to a doctrine that had remained substantially and consistently steadfast in its disapproval of contraceptive practices," she says.

He also urged pastors to be gentle with penitents, encouraging them to grow in accepting the teaching of Humanae Vitae without condemning them if they could not fully comply.

Source

• Crux Now

As Humanae Vitae (on Human Life) was promulgated more than a year before my birth it is quite possible that I am a product of this most prophetic statement on marriage, life and love.

This has led me to ponder these main questions; what is God's plan for marriage?

• What is the meaning of human sexuality?
• Do us mere mortals get a say?
• What has the impact of contraception been on our society?

And many more.

I have come to understand that there is more to Humane Vitae than a mere cautionary tale about what could happen if Catholics embrace artificial contraception, though this is a particularly important aspect that needs to be revisited from time to time.

At its heart Humanae Vitae does not propose a list of prohibitions of certain practices but a loving response to God who created us freely and out of love.

He calls us into the vocation of marriage and gives us the power to imitate him as life-giving lovers.

In this context the sexual act is so powerful and so meaningful that in roughly nine months, all things being equal, a couple may need to give it a name!

Pope Francis reiterates this in his recent General Address when he said "And what leads man to refuse life?

They are the idols of this world: money - it is best to get rid of this, because it will cost us -, power, and success.

These are erroneous parameters for valuing life.

What is the only authentic measure of life?

It is love, the love with which God loves it! The love with which God loves life: this is the measure. The love with which God loves every human life."[1]

In the history of the Catholic Church there is not a single document that has been more hated, despised and rejected by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Like the disciples in John 6:60 we say ‘…this is a hard teaching, who can accept it?".

The GK Chesterton quote about the hard road that is Christianity could equally be applied to openness to life within marriage; ‘it has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.' [2]

Perhaps it is time, after 50 years of widespread rejection and ignorance of its contents, to rediscover this document in the light of the societal transformation that reproductive technologies have brought about.

Many young Catholic couples all over the world, eager to live their married lives according to God's plan, are now reclaiming as their patrimony the underlying truths espoused by Paul VI and restated by subsequent Popes, in particular Pope John Paul II in his ‘Theology of the Body' writings.

However you view the advent of artificial contraception, as an evil or as a good, you will most likely agree that it was a worldwide revolutionary technology that altered fundamentally the relationship dynamics of the sexes.

One fundamental question we need to ask ourselves if who did the pill actually benefit, who did it liberate?

The incontrovertible answer is men.

The contraceptive pill was developed ‘by men for men'.

Men do not have to deal with the side effects of these ‘medications' including a significant increase in depression rates, they can partake freely of sex with multiple partners without consequences and women have been reduced to mere objects and playthings available throughout the month.

I call that sexual inequity.

And we wonder why ‘respect' has become such an out-moded practice within relationships and the clamour for ‘consent' so urgent.

We have messed with the very essence of marriage - this is bound to have consequences for all of society.

Elevating friendship and love within marriage above all else has paved the way for the legalisation and widespread acceptance of same sex marriage.

It is high time for an examination of conscience in respect of our response to Humanae Vitae.

In God's plan, as revealed in scripture, married love is fruitful: "It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being."

From the Second Vatican Council: "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and education of children.

"Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents". [3]

Fully human. Total. Faithful and exclusive. Fruitful.

In brief, the marriage act ought to be a true marriage act, a renewal of the marriage covenant, for better and for worse.

It should mirror God's love for us - and oddly enough that may entail an element of sacrifice. "Without the cross there is no Christian." [4]

Perhaps our Lord should have the last words here?

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me…" Luke 9:23.

Living according to God's plan for marriage is not a walk in the park - but it's so worth it!

[1] General Audience October 10 2018
[2] The original quote is ‘"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." ― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World
[3] Gaudium et Spes, No. 50
[4] Pope Francis 2014 Casa Sancta Marta

• Monica Devineis a wife and mother living in Wellington, New Zealand, she currently manages a family law practice.
• Image: Supplied

The NZ premiere of the documentary, sponsored by the Catholic Enquiry Centre, will be shown as part of the Family Banquet Conference next month.

The documentary seeks to explain the fallout of the hippie generation's free-love mindset and the prophetic nature of Humanae Vitae.

Humanae Vitae is Blessed Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on love, sex and marriage.

The director and narrator of the ninety-minute documentary believes the sexual revolution that followed the introduction of artificial contraception in the 1960s may soon give way to a new and "real sexual revolution" that embraces Natural Family Planning.

"I believe with all my heart there is a rediscovery happening right now of Humanae Vitae," said the director, Daniel diSilva.

The fact that young people are increasingly turning to organic food and natural healthcare choices leads diSilva to believe "we're sitting on the cusp of a revolution of natural family planning," in which married couples use neither drugs nor devices but rather fertility awareness to delay or achieve pregnancy.

The documentary examines the history of the parallel developments of the pill and modern natural family planning framed within the dramatic life story of Alana Newman.

A musician and singer, Newman's life story as a donor-conceived individual searching for her biological father frames the film.

There is a focus on Drs John and Evelyn Billings, the pioneers in the Natural Family Planning movement.

The film also features commentary by more than a dozen Catholic experts including Dr Helen Alvare, Dr Peter Kreeft, and Archbishop Charles Chaput, as well as rarely seen video clips of St Mother Teresa.

The Family Banquet Conference will take place on Saturday, 10 November at St Christopher's Church, 167 Main Rd, Tawa in Wellington. Tickets are available at eventbrite or contact patricia@marriageandfamily.org.nz

Source

• Supplied: marriageandfamily.org.nz Patricia Sison
• sexualrevolutionmovie.com
• thecatholicpost.com
• imdb.com
• Image: Supplied

It reiterated the condemnation of artificial contraception for spouses.

Many in the Catholic world had been hoping for a change in the papal teaching based on the newer approaches of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the call to change the teaching that was in the "Majority Report" of the papal commission studying the issue, which had been leaked the year before.

But rumors began circulating in the spring of 1968 that the pope was going to issue an encyclical reaffirming the contraception ban.

Humanae Vitae raised two different issues — the teaching on contraception and sexuality, and how the church goes about its authoritative teaching role.

The second issue is more extensive and important and is the subject matter of this essay.

The authoritative teaching on contraception, as explained at the Vatican press conference releasing the encyclical, involves authoritative, noninfallible church teaching.

Defenders of dissent from such teaching, including myself, proposed three basic reasons to justify such dissent. (The day after Humanae Vitae was released, I was the spokesperson and leader of a group of theologians who issued a public statement saying that Catholics could dissent in theory and in practice from the teaching of Humanae Vitae on artificial contraception and still consider themselves to be loyal Roman Catholics. More than 600 Catholic scholars ultimately signed this statement.)

First, history shows that the church has changed its teaching on a number of significant moral teachings over the years, such as slavery, the right of the defendant to remain silent, democracy, human rights, religious liberty, and the role of love and pleasure in marital sexual relations.

Second, noninfallible teaching by its very nature is fallible.

Noninfallible is a subterfuge to avoid using the word fallible.

Third, the primary teacher in the church is the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Spirit speaks through the hierarchical magisterium, but the role of the Spirit is broader than the role of the hierarchical magisterium.

Through baptism all Christians share in the teaching and prophetic role of Jesus.

The strongest argument against the legitimacy of such dissent insists that the Holy Spirit guides the church and would never allow church teaching to be wrong in a matter affecting so many people in their daily lives.

Instead of helping people live the Christian life, would the Spirit allow the Church to lead them astray?

The strongest rebuttal is that slavery was a much more significant and important issue than contraception for spouses.

Immediately following Humanae Vitae, a firestorm of debate arose over dissent and its legitimacy, but as time went on, the debate has greatly subsided.

Catholic spouses are fundamentally no different from Protestant spouses in their use of artificial contraception in marriage.

The vast majority of Catholic theologians, but by no means all of them, recognize the legitimacy of dissent in the case of contraception.

Popes and bishops have continued to strenuously support the teaching opposing contraception, have never explicitly recognized the legitimacy of dissent and have punished some theologians defending such dissent, but they have not disturbed the consciences of those spouses using contraception.

Fifty years after Humanae Vitae, there is little or no discussion about this issue. Catholic couples long ago have made up their conscience on the issue of contraception.

Priests and confessors have overwhelmingly accepted in practice the legitimacy of such dissent.

Today, one could maintain that the present situation in the total church has justified the legitimacy of such dissent.

But there are problems with this present solution. Continue reading

• Image: The Catholic Thing

Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, met with Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, and the head of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, Cardinal Peter Turkson.

The discussions focused on development, Africa, women's empowerment, LGBT rights, religious freedom, female genital mutilation, child marriage and violence against women and girls.

She says faith leaders should help change "deeply held beliefs and attitudes" in order to allow women greater access to "reproductive healthcare."

Mordaunt says she "urged" Vatican officials to make it easier for young girls to have access to contraception.

She cited "the tragedy of 800 girls and women unnecessarily losing their lives every day through pregnancy or childbirth complications" to back up her argument.

"Everyone deserves the right to a safe childhood, to an education and to a life without fear.

"For many girls, this is not the case. Child marriage and a lack of control over their own bodies or access to reproductive healthcare, including contraception, means many girls have no hope of completing an education," she says.

"It is crucial we engage with faith leaders to help us challenge deeply held beliefs and attitudes.

"The Catholic Church can help us in that, and my appeal to them was to help us save lives, especially of young mothers.

"As we work with African leaders to help them build their nations it is vital that family planning is part of that plan. It will save lives and huge suffering."

Last July the British government hosted a Family Planning Summit.

At this, the government pledged to support the use of "voluntary modern contraception" by women around the world.

Mordaunt's comments coincide with the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae. The encyclical underlines the Church's teaching that artificial contraception is wrong.

Last month, 500 British priests signed a letter endorsing the encyclical.

Source

• Crux Now
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Daily Express

The conversation, which will be facilitated by the United States Diocese of Arlington, is open to all.

Its focus is on the encyclical which reaffirms artificial birth control is "intrinsically wrong".

People interested in participating can follow the Arlington Diocese on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as Pecknold on Twitter. Two hashtags will be used: #HV50 and #AskTheQuestion.

Those who do not use social media can visit a website with all the conversation content from each day.

The social media forum will include two or three tweets a day for the first three weeks, and then a social media symposium on 25 July - the encyclical's 50th anniversary.

Dr Chad Pecknold, a theology professor at The Catholic University of America, will host the primary conversation on Twitter.

He will provide some content and will also address questions from participants.

He says he is encouraging "everyone to think out loud on social media about the points that are made in Humanae Vitae.

"I hope young people will do what they do in the classroom, which is to try to be courageous and formulate a question," he says.

Besides its affirmation of the church's stance on contraception, Humane Vitae also talks about the dignity of human life and sexuality, and outlines the use of Natural Family Planning as a morally valid method of planning and spacing children.

In the encyclical, Paul VI predicted that if the use of contraception became widespread, society would see devastating consequences.

These consequences include:

• an increase in marital infidelity
• a general decline of moral standards
• the possibility of governments using coercive measures to force contraceptive use upon people
• a loss of respect for women
• a general decrease in humility regarding humanity's dominion over the human body.

Each of these predictions has come true in the modern era, says Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Wyoming Public Media
• Image: Iowans for LIFE

I won't bore you with the details of the innumerable battles, disagreements, and ecclesial crises that followed upon this text.

Suffice it to say that this short, pithily argued letter became a watershed in the post-conciliar Catholic Church and one of the most significant points of contention between liberals and conservatives.

Its fundamental contention is that the moral integrity of the sexual act is a function of the coming together of its "procreative and unitive" dimensions.

That is to say, sexual intercourse is ethically upright only in the measure that it is expressive of love between married partners and remains open to the conception of a child.

When, through a conscious choice, the partners introduce an artificial block to procreation—when, in a word, they separate the unitive and procreative finalities of the sexual act—they do something which is contrary to God's will.

Again, within the context of this brief article I won't detail the arguments for and against this position.

But I would like to draw particular attention to a remarkable passage in Humanae Vitae, namely section 17, in which Paul VI plays the prophet and lays out, clearly and succinctly, what he foresees as consequences of turning away from the Church's classic teaching on sex.

Though he is convinced that artificial contraception is morally bad in itself, he's also persuaded that it would, in the long run, adversely affect general societal attitudes regarding sex.

Here is a first observation:

"Let them consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards.

"Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law." Continue reading

Sources

• The Catholic World Report, article by Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
• Image:

Paul VI issued his encyclical in 1968 after a commission of theologians and experts spent four years meeting to study in-depth whether the Church could be open to the contraceptive pill or other artificial forms of birth control.

In his encyclical, Pope Paul VI reaffirmed that sexual relations cannot be detached from fecundity. The event was a watershed moment in the Church.

The event was a watershed moment in the Church.

A study group from the Rome-based John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family aims to produce a paper on the development of the encyclical. The group is led by cultural anthropology professor Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo, who teaches at the institute.

Professor Marengo told Vatican Radio July 25 that the commission in the end "was not able to give Bl. Paul VI what he needed to draft the encyclical," and so the Pope "had almost had to start again."

He underscored that Bl. Paul VI's work was made even more difficult by the fact that "public opinion in the Church was very much polarized, not only between in favour and in opposition to the contraceptive pill but also among theologians, who presented the same polarized counter-position."

While the discussion was still ongoing, a document favourable to Catholic approval of the birth control pill was published simultaneously in April 1967 in the French newspaper Le Monde, the English magazine The Tablet, and the American newspaper the National Catholic Reporter.

The report emphasized that 70 members of the Pontifical Commission were favourable to the pill, but in fact, the document was "just one of the 12 reports presented to the Holy Father."

Those are the words of Bernardo Colombo, a professor of demographics and a member of the commission, writing in the March 2003 issue of "Teologia," the journal of the theological faculty of Milan and Northern Italy.

When Paul VI published Humanae Vitae, public opinion was thus already oriented against the Church's principles which the pontiff reaffirmed, and the Church's teaching was strongly targeted.

Prof. Marengo told Vatican Radio that "Humanae Vitae" deserved an in-depth study.

The professor's first impression is that when the study group's research is complete "it will be possible to set aside many partisan readings of the text" and will be easier to "grasp the intentions and worries that moved Paul VI to solve the issue the way he did."

The story of the encyclical dates back to 1963 when St. John XXIII established the commission to study the topics of marriage, family, and regulation of birth.

Pope Paul VI later enlarged the commission's membership from six to twelve people. Then he further increased its numbers to 75 members, plus a president, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and two deputies, Cardinals Julius Doepfner and John Heenan.

Then he further increased its numbers to 75 members, plus a president, Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and two deputies, Cardinals Julius Doepfner and John Heenan.

After the end of the works of the commission, Paul VI asked a restricted group of theologians to give a further examination of the topic.

Pope Francis has shown great appreciation for Bl. Paul VI and for "Humanae Vitae" several times, such as in an interview March 5, 2014, with the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, ahead of two synods on the family.

Asked if the Church was going to take up again the theme of birth control, the Pope responded: that "all of this depends on how 'Humanae Vitae' is interpreted. Paul VI himself, at the end, recommended to confessors much mercy, and attention to concrete situations." Continue reading

Augustinian Fr Gabriel Daly said the 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI which banned contraception had never been accepted by the Church at large.

The priest, 88, said this is in a lecture in Dublin titled "What needs reform in the Church", ahead of the publication of a book he has written.

Fr Daly accused traditionalists of parading Church teaching "unscrupulously as a kind of weapon".

He said to say all popes are bound by "Humanae Vitae" is nonsense, theologically unacceptable and totally out of touch with the modern world.

"Rome's way of dealing with this problem is to refuse to listen to modern theological arguments, and simply to reissue a prohibition by proclamation and without satisfactory argument," he said.

Last year, Pope Francis said the Church's teaching on contraception does not need to change, but must be applied with mercy.

In Fr Daly's address, which also covered the issues of women in the Church and homosexuality, he highlighted how the Church has changed its teachings many times over its history.

He cited Pope Urban II's support for the Crusades and said not even ultra-traditionalists today would regard themselves bound by this.

Fr Daly also said there is no argument against women's ordination that can be taken seriously theologically.

On the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage, Fr Daly said to describe it as sinful, as Pope Benedict XVI did, is to remain "imprisoned in an outmoded kind of thinking which may actually verge on unintended blasphemy against an all-good and all-knowing Creator".

The priest said homosexuality can no longer be credibly regarded as being "against" nature.

His talk concluded with a warning that as long as Pope Francis remains imprisoned in a scheme that binds him to all the teachings of his papal predecessors, then needed reforms cannot take place.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic Herald
• Image: We are Church Ireland

Theologians, philosophers and scholars issued the appeal in the American journal "First Things".

Among the signatories are academics from the Pontificial John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, as well as German philosopher Robert Spaemann and Swiss ethicist Martin Rhonheimer.

The appeal claims the paragraph is contrary to the Church's magisterium and could lead to confusion among the faithful.

At issue is paragraph 137 of the Instrumentum Laboris, issued earlier this year.

The paragraph states that two principal points pertaining to Humanae Vitae need to be brought together.

These are the role of the informed conscience and the objective moral norm.

"Combining the two, under the regular guidance of a competent spiritual guide, will help married people make choices which are humanly fulfilling and ones which conform to God's will," the document states.

Signatories to the First Things appeal believe the paragraph assigns absolute primacy to the individual conscience in the selection of the means of birth control, even against the teaching of the Church's magisterium.

They add that there is a risk that such primacy could be extended to other areas like abortion and euthanasia.

Writing in L'Espresso, Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister stated that "the split between the individual conscience and the magisterium of the Church is analogous to that which separates pastoral practice from doctrine".

Magister pointed to comments by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, last month.

"We may not deceive the people when it comes to the sacramentality of marriage, its indissolubility, its openness toward the child, and the fundamental complementarity of the two sexes," Cardinal Muller said in Regensburg.

"Pastoral care must keep in view the eternal salvation and it should not try to be superficially pleasing according to the wishes of the people."

Sources

• L'Espresso
• Synod Instrumentum Laboris
• Image: CTS Books

That's essential to understanding what Pope Francis "really meant" in his recent string of remarks on having children.

In fact, it's a line that comes from the pope himself.

He used it in an interview in March with Italy's biggest-selling daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera.

The paper's editor asked the pope if the church should take another look at the teaching found in Paul VI's 1968 encyclical.

"Cardinal Martini, your confrere, thought it was probably the time to do so," the editor said provocatively.

Here's how the pope replied:

"It all depends on how Humanae Vitae is interpreted."

Now that's interesting!

"Paul VI himself, in the end, urged priest-confessors to be very merciful, to be attentive to concrete situations," he said, then called his predecessor "prophetic" and praised him for having "the courage to stand against the majority, to defend the moral discipline ... and to oppose present and future neo-Malthusianism."

Francis completed his answer to the question by saying it was not a question of whether to change the encyclical's teaching, but to "make sure pastoral care takes into account situations and what persons are capable of doing."

The interview offers an interpretive key to understanding the Jesuit pope when he speaks specifically about the topic of birth control. (Until the papal visit to the Philippines, he's done so only seldomly.)

There's another interpretative key.

It's a principle he put forth in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, and has repeated on numerous occasions: "Realties are greater than ideas."

These two instruments are critical to understanding how Pope Francis interprets Humanae Vitae.

First of all, the comments he made in the Philippines, on the plane trip back to Rome and, finally, those at his Wednesday general audience following the trip all suggest one thing: the pope is a realist.

Sources

• Robert Mickens in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: CTS Books

Beatification puts Paul one step shy of formal sainthood.

The move might seem out of step with Francis' pastoral approach given that Paul's birth control ruling, in the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, set the stage for the culture wars that overtook Catholicism after Paul died in 1978.

A wide swath of Catholics, especially in the U.S. and Europe, were furious over Paul's decision.

They were convinced that the ban would be lifted and that Paul was shutting down the reforms that had begun a few years earlier with momentous changes adopted by the Second Vatican Council.

Many conservatives, on the other hand, hailed Humanae Vitae for reasserting traditional doctrine, and the division foreshadowed the deep splits that have played out even in this month's high-level synod in Rome—a polarization that Francis says he wants to overcome.

Yet Francis is trying to accomplish that goal by focusing not so much on Humanae Vitae but on Paul VI's many other groundbreaking, though often overlooked, contributions:

1. Refomer

Chief among them was Paul's call for a more missionary church that would be open to the world and one that would dialogue with other Christians and other believers, and with nonbelievers, too.

"For us, Paul VI was the great light," Francis said in an interview in June, referring to his years as a young priest.

In addition, like Francis, Paul was a vocal champion of the church's social justice teachings, and he sought to embed those concepts as foundation stones of Catholic doctrine.

He also implemented a system of regular meetings of bishops, called synods, to promote a more collaborative, horizontal church.

That's a legacy Francis built on this month when he convened a free-wheeling synod of bishops deliberately modeled on Paul's vision. Continue reading

Sources

• U.S.Catholic
• Image: Catholic in Brooklyn

Writing in L'Espresso, Sandro Magister noted there is growing pressure for a change in Church teaching on Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

"There was similarly massive pressure for change in the 1960s, when the Pope had to decide on the legitimacy of contraceptives, with many theologians, bishops, and cardinals siding in favour," Magister continued.

"But in 1968 Paul VI decided against, with the encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae'."

This encyclical met with "bitter contestation" from entire groups of bishops and was disobeyed by "countless faithful", Magister explained.

But Pope Francis has said that he wants to take Humane Vitae as his own frame of reference, he added.

Magister cited Pope Francis's March 5 interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Pope Francis noted that, in Humanae Vitae, Paul VI urged confessors to be "very merciful and pay attention to concrete situations".

The Pope also said Paul VI had a "prophetic" genius and had "the courage to take a stand against the majority, to defend moral discipline, to exercise a cultural restraint, to oppose present and future neo-Malthusianism".

"The question is not that of changing doctrine, but of digging deep and making sure that pastoral care takes into account situations and what it is possible for persons to do," Pope Francis had said.

Magister said that one "can truly expect anything" from Pope Francis, including a decision "against the majority" that reconfirms the indissolubility of marriage.

But this is "tempered by the mercy of pastors of souls in the face of concrete situations".

He noted reports of Pope Francis' phone call with a divorced and remarried Catholic in Argentina recently, in which the Pope allegedly said she could receive Communion.

While the contents of the call have been contested, such reports have the effect of creating a "driving crescendo of anticipations of change".

However, Magister suggested that the Pope could defy these expectations.

"As expert as he is in cultivating public opinion, Pope Francis is not the kind to be let himself become its prisoner."
Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Our Sunday Visitor

Recalling that Thursday was the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae makes me cringe. In fact, I am pained whenever the 1968 papal decree comes up for discussion. I feel like a person who has witnessed a tragic event and made an intense effort to turn over a key piece of evidence — the "smoking gun" — that would make the truth known only to see lawyers either misplace the evidence or fail to use it effectively. I contend the evidence I am talking about would have been climactic — making it virtually impossible for Pope Paul to ignore changing the church's current birth control policy, or conversely, if used today, make it relatively easy for Pope Francis to correct the church's second "Galileo affair."

For readers not around 45 years ago when Pope Paul promulgated the decree that renewed the Catholic church's ban on all artificial forms of birth control, it may be helpful to offer a brief review of that history. Pope Pius XI first imposed the ban in 1930, six months after the Anglican Lambeth Conference allowed its church's married couples to decide the issue by themselves. In October 1964, several Catholic bishops raised the issue of birth control during a discussion of marriage and the family at the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Leon-Joseph Suenens of Malines-Brussels pleaded with his brother bishops to study the issue and "avoid another Galileo affair. One [failure of the church to keep abreast of scientific advances] is enough." Continue reading

Sources

• Frank Maurovich in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Patheos

Frank Maurovich, founding editor of The Catholic Voice, left priestly ministry in 1977.

"Increasingly the institution of marriage is being replaced by simply living together, which has followed upon the sundering of the link between sex and fertility. This is not just a revolution in the area of moral norms; it reaches much deeper, into the very definition of man. If the drive which is innate in man as a physiological being conflicts with the optimum condition that we call a human way of life (sufficient food, good living conditions, women's rights), and therefore has to be cheated with the help of science, then the rest of our firmly held convictions about what is natural behaviour and what is unnatural fall by the wayside."

Milosz - who is buried in the basilica at Skalka in Krakow, traditionally held to be the site of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus - had a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. He was not a man who automatically accepted ecclesiastical dicta on the basis of religious authority. Thus his insight into the cultural consequences of cheap, effective and readily available contraception is all the more striking, in that it runs in close parallel to what Paul VI wrote in Humanae Vitae: an encyclical that was not so much rejected (pace the utterly predictable 45th-anniversary commentary) as it was unread, untaught, ill-considered - and thus unappreciated. Continue reading

Sources

• George Weigel in ABC Religion & Ethics
• Image: Letters to the Editor, etc

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.