In the early centuries of the church’s life, there were three so-called “mortal” sins: adultery, murder and apostasy. All three were sins against the life and unity of the community. They resulted in excommunication, separation from the community, until a penitential restoration of communion. By the time, many centuries later, when I was learning the Read more
Sex and religion are probably the two most talked about topics in the world. In Humanae Vitae we find them inextricably but harmoniously interwoven. 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, Read more
The world is full of lonely souls who need a beacon in their darkness, an ointment for their wounds, and a means of grace for their bereft spirits. For many, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae has been all that and more. When I read it for the first time, while I was still a Read more
“We, Paul VI… declare, in the case of infirmity, that it is presumed to be incurable, or of long duration… or in the case of another serious and prolonged impediment… to renounce” to “our office”. The top-secret letter on which many hypotheses were made but which no one had ever seen, clearly shows Pope Montini’s Read more
A series of tweets from the Vatican express sorrow and prayers for Stephen Hawking who died last week. Hawking was an esteemed member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. St John Paul II named Hawking a member of the Academy in 1986. Its members are chosen on the basis of their academic credentials and professional Read more
This coming July, we will mark the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s deeply controversial encyclical letter Humanae Vitae. 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 Read more
Fifty years ago, Blessed Pope Paul VI gave to the world a truly prophetic encyclical letter Populorum Progressio (“The Development of Peoples), and just days later Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his powerful speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” As kindred spirits in Christ, they both knew the grave dangers facing humanity Read more
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has revealed that while he agreed with the conclusion Pope Paul VI drew in his encyclical letter (Humanae Vitae) on artificial contraception, he struggled with the reasoning Pope Paul used to arrive at his conclusion. “In the situation I was then in, and in the context of theological thinking in which Read more
Wherever one chooses to start the story of the modern simplification of the papacy, a key point along the way has to be the first time the world really saw a pope display a broken heart in public, even flirting with rebuking God. It happened on May 10, 1978, the 38th anniversary of which is Read more
The Vatican has dampened claims Pope Francis has signalled a significant relaxation of the Church’s ban on contraception as a response to the Zika virus outbreak. In a press conference aboard the papal flight to Rome from Mexico, Francis was asked if the grave nature of the virus – which is linked to serious birth Read more