Church in the World

Pope says Humanae Vitae is still valid

Pope Benedict XVI has strongly defended the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, saying that the controversial papal document against artificial birth control is even more timely today than when Pope Paul VI published it 40 years ago.

"The truth expressed in Humanae Vitae does not change; on the contrary, in light of new scientific discoveries, its teaching is becoming more current and is provoking reflection," the Pope said on 10 May.

Speaking in Italian to participants who were in Rome for an international church-sponsored congress to mark the forthcoming fortieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae, he said that the encyclical offered lasting fundamental principles on marriage and procreation.

"That which was true yesterday, remains true even today," the Pope said. He said that the encyclical defended conjugal love as something more than mere sentiment, describing it as total self-giving to one's spouse and openness to the "gift of life". He suggested that Humanae Vitae's teaching was especially important for contemporary culture, which often devalues life and sees "having" as more important than "being".

"If the exercise of sexuality is turned into a drug that subjugates one's partner to one's own desires and interests, without respecting the loved one's rhythms, then that which must be defended is no longer simply the true concept of love, but above all the person's dignity," he said.

Interestingly, the Pope never specifically denounced the use of artificial contraception or assisted fertilisation by name.But he did insist that the natural law on which Humanae Vitae is based must be defended. "The transmission of life is inscribed in nature and its laws remain as the unwritten norm to which everyone must refer. Every attempt to divert attention from this principle remains sterile and does not produce a future," he said.

Humanae Vitae's publication disillusioned many Catholics who had been expecting Pope Paul to lift the prohibition on the use of contraception.

Those expectations were based on documents leaked a year earlier in the American National Catholic Reporter and The Tablet, which showed that most members of the Pope's own advisory commission were advocating a change in the previous teaching. But Paul VI rejected the commission's advice and this provoked criticism and dissent among many bishops and cardinals.

Pope Benedict said his predecessor had taken an "anguished decision". And while admitting that the encyclical's teaching was "not easy" even today, he said Pope Paul was right to finally publish Humanae Vitae in July 1968. "It was a significant act of courage in reaffirming the continuity of the doctrine and tradition of the Church," he said.

"That document quickly became a sign of contradiction," the Pope continued. He said that it was "often misunderstood and misinterpreted" and he acknowledged that it "caused much debate".

He claimed this was at least partly because the encyclical was issued in the summer of 1968, the beginning of a time of "deep consternation that marked the life of whole generations".

But Pope Benedict seemed to think the controversy was dying. "In the 40 years since its publication that teaching not only shows its truth to be unchanged, but it also reveals the farsightedness with which the issue was faced," he said.