Five keys to better understanding the encyclical Humanae Vitae after almost six decades

On July 25, 1968, Paul VI published Humanae Vitae, an encyclical on the regulation of birth and the dangers involved in the use of artificial methods of contraception and their imposition as state policy.

At the time, the encyclical was rejected by many, even within the Catholic Church. And it still is.

The document, published at the beginning of the sexual revolution, continues to provoke mixed reactions. It is therefore necessary to delve deeper into five key points that allow us to better understand the encyclical, the context in which it was written, its prophetic message and its validity even today.

1. It is an ordinary, definitive, and unchangeable doctrine of the magisterial faith

Various priests, theologians and lay people regularly claim that the encyclical belongs solely to the ordinary teaching authority of a pope and that its content can change as a result of the arrival of another pope.

However, Humane Vitae was reaffirmed by the popes who succeeded Paul VI.

Saint John Paul II went so far as to affirm that “what the Church teaches on contraception is not a matter that can be freely disputed among theologians. To teach the opposite is to mislead the moral conscience of the spouses.”

He stated that Catholic teaching on contraception belongs to the moral teaching of the Church and that it has been presented “with unbroken continuity” because it is “a truth that cannot be disputed.”

The teaching of an encyclical therefore belongs to the ordinary teaching authority, but if it is exercised continuously and definitively, it is unchangeable, even if it is not infallible.

2. Humanae Vitae is prophetic

Several prominent Catholics have characterized the encyclical as “prophetic and still relevant.”

In 1968, the discussion about the negative impact of artificial contraceptives was still in its infancy. However, the document not only represented a concrete response to the debate on sexual ethics, “but it represented then, and still represents today, a clear and explicit refusal of the Church to submit to the proposals and demands of the sexual revolution,” as the Spanish Bishops’ Conference explained.

In 2018, the late Archbishop of Warsaw, Henryk Hoser, noted that the voice of Saint Paul VI in Humanae Vitae had proven prophetic regarding contraceptives, as he “predicted that their use would open the easy road to marital infidelity and a general decline in births.”

He stressed that the encyclical was always relevant because conjugal love, “physical or spiritual, must combine these two dimensions” and that it must always be a love “free of selfishness.”

Similarly, Spanish priest Javier “Patxi” Bronchalo stated in 2022 that the document at the time warned of the increase in marital infidelity, moral degradation, the general loss of women’s dignity and ideological colonization by government policies.

3. HV underwent significant changes before it was published

According to research by an Italian scholar at the Vatican Apostolic Archives, Humanae Vitae was originally supposed to be published on May 23, 1968, but Paul VI decided to publish it only on July 25.

This measure was taken by the Pope despite the fact that the document had already been printed in Latin under the title De Nascendae Prolis (On the Children Who Will Be Born). He considered the document too complex in doctrine and pastorally inadequate.

After making some changes to the original document, Paul VI “took over the entire pastoral part and added a series of very sensitive points that still leave their mark on history.”

4. Paul VI consulted the bishops before publishing the encyclical

Some accuse Paul VI of publishing the encyclical Humanae Vitae without consulting the bishops.

However, the Italian scientist’s research shows the opposite.

During the 1967 Synod of Bishops, the Pope asked all prelates to share with him their position on this issue.

Of the nearly 200 bishops who participated in the synod, only 26 responded in the period from October 9, 1967 to May 31, 1968.

Of this group, 19 were in favor and only 7 were against contraceptives.

Of these seven, the best known and most important were the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the then Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, Karol Wojtyla, who would later become St. John Paul II. He always wanted to be remembered as “the Pope of the Family,” as Pope Francis declared during the canonization of the Polish pontiff in 2014.

The then Secretary of State, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, said that “Paul VI, on the morning of July 25, 1968, celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit, asked for light from above and signed – he signed his most difficult signature, one of his most glorious signatures. He signed his own passion.”

5. Thinking rationally about sexuality

According to the Jesuit Father Bertrand de Margerie, dealing rationally with sex does not imply an arbitrary and complete autonomy of the couple’s intimate life, nor the use of artificial means to control births, but rather the exercise of the virtue of chastity.

“The acquired virtue of chastity penetrates with reason into the exercise of sexual life when the latter is legitimate,” the Jesuit priest wrote, referring to St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica.

“By encouraging periodic abstinence and the regulation of births without artificial control, (St.) Paul VI rightly praises a humble and complete rationalization of the sexual sphere, subject to the knowledge of human reason and to the control of freedom, aided by grace,” he said.

“He does not appeal to instincts… common to man and other animals, which are devoid of reason, but he appeals to man’s freedom, which makes man seem like pure spirits like angels.”