BL. POPE PAUL VI’ S ENCYCLICAL ON BIRTH REGULATION
Dr. Mark S. Latkovic
© CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
CONTRACEPTION AND THE 1960S’ CULTURE OF PERMISSIVENESS
The Catholic Church had always taught contraception is morally wrong, as John T. Noonan( 1926 – 2017) showed in his 1965 book, Contraception— even though he favored a change in that constant teaching. Blessed Pope Paul VI courageously affirmed this teaching when he promulgated his landmark but controversial encyclical Humanae Vitae on July 25, 1968.
Much of the dissent that occurred after the document’ s release had its roots in the cultural and theological upheavals of that time, with figures such as anthropologist Ashley Montagu( 1905 – 1999) rhapsodizing about the revolutionary wonders of the Pill. Although legal abortion would be integral to the Sexual Revolution, contraception made the movement possible in the first place.
With even many Catholic theologians encouraging a change in the teaching, the expectation was the Church would accommodate herself to the Sexual Revolution and“ adapt” her teaching. Many argued Vatican Council II( 1962 – 1965) had called on Catholics to dialogue with and learn from the modern world. What better way for the Church to show humility than to countenance use of the Pill to help couples“ plan” their families and solve many of society’ s most challenging problems, from poverty to overpopulation?
Further, many argued the Holy Spirit was speaking to the Church through the experience of those who found the Church’ s teaching onerous and simply out-of-touch in a world where poverty and population were increasing, where women were entering the workforce in greater numbers, and where greater attention was being given to sexual pleasure in and outside of marriage.
THE POPES, THE MORALITY OF THE PILL, AND THE PONTIFICAL BIRTH CONTROL COMMISSION
In the late 1950s, Pope Pius XII was faced with judging the morality of the newly invented birth control pill. He determined the Pill was no different in moral character than any other form of contraception. But because it did not interfere with the physical integrity of marital intercourse— often taken to be the chief criterion for determining the morality of the sexual act— many thought it possible for the Church to accept chemical contraception as morally licit. For Pius XII, the Pill( when used expressly for contraceptive purposes) was morally wrong because it rendered the marital act closed to procreation.
Even though Pius XII had already condemned the Pill, St. Pope John XXIII established in the early 1960s the Pontifical
6 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2018