On July 25th, 1998, George Cardinal Pell, then Archbishop of Melbourne, published a pastoral letter “On Life and Love” to mark the 30th anniversary of Humanae Vitae.

July 25 2008 will mark the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (On the Regulation of Birth).

“Many Catholics honestly believe that Pope Paul VI in his letter Humanae Vitae of 1968 was wrong to reaffirm the traditional Christian teaching against artificial contraception, common to all Christian Churches until early this century. However this may be argued, the Holy Father was right on two scores; on the dignity and beauty of married love and on the dire practical consequences of the contraceptive mentality, of selfishness at work.

The widespread use of the pill unlocked the sexual revolution in Australia and the Western World, which brought an increase in abortions, marriage breakdowns, the number of single mothers and of homeless children. These dark consequences of casual sex are hidden from view, while sexuality itself is constantly debased in films, magazines, and advertising, and young men and women, their relations often troubled by a lurking mistrust, are more reluctant than ever to commit themselves to each other unconditionally for life. Individuals are asking the Church to legitimise homosexual activity, to bless single-sex unions. We have now the tragic AIDS epidemic. In the area of sexuality the signs of the times have validated Paul VI’s pessimism about the future and like the true prophets of the Old Testament he was derided and denounced for his predictions.

His letter on human life, Humanae Vitae, published thirty years ago this month, is probably the most famous and least understood encyclical in history. Its publication provoked a whirlwind of dissent, academic and popular, and in the following decades the pill was to become one of the most widely accepted medical developments in human history. Despite our increased scientific knowledge about the side effects of chemicals, despite our greater sensitivity on ecological issues, this is still the situation.

Paul VI promoted responsible parenthood. He taught that couples must decide how many children they should have and how they should be spaced, taking into account their own physical, economic, psychological and social circumstances, and their duties to God, themselves, their family and society. But he rejected methods of family planning which involve interventions upon the body or the marriage act, radically separating love-making from life-making.

Paul VI also foresaw that popular pressure and Government authority might be brought to force people into contraception, sterilisation and even abortion: this is very publicly the case in some countries such as China, but even in our own country couples tell me they are constantly urged by friends, family and work circumstances to keep their family size small.

Since 1968, with the encouragement of the Pope’s teaching about the sacredness of married love, medical scientists have developed the knowledge for couples to manage their fertility without the use of harmful drugs, surgery or artificial devices. In the past thirty years, great advances have been made in the area of natural family planning. Sadly, many of our people are unaware of them and still talk dismissively of what are in fact very effective techniques.

The World Health Organisation has demonstrated that couples can easily be taught fertility awareness. This information assists them in seeking help for infertility or to avoid pregnancy. Women are taught to recognise when they are fertile and infertile, and they can then choose when it is appropriate for them to have sexual intercourse. They can predict the onset of ovulation and menstruation, and monitor their fertility and infertility even during irregular cycles, while breast-feeding, after oral contraceptive use, and approaching menopause. Advances in natural methods of family planning have not only helped preserve respect for marital love and for the ecology of the human body: they have also empowered women to take a greater role in decisions about their reproductive health, enhancing self-confidence and self-esteem. We owe much to Melbourne doctors John and Evelyn Billings, whose discoveries in this area have achieved world-wide recognition.

Many Catholics will know of Humanae Vitae only by its reputation as the encyclical which banned Catholics from using contraception. Therefore, it is appropriate to consider Pope Paul’s arguments, but it is equally important o examine the neo-pagan alternatives on sexuality, marriage and family which commercial interests are thrusting upon society. Are families better off today? Are more young people happy? Are we content to allow the Sexual Revolution to continue unimpeded, damaging more and more of both young and old? How can we enlist more young Australians in the struggle to defend loving, responsible sexuality? When shall we decide enough is enough?

On the occasion of this anniversary, with the lessons of thirty years of sexual “freedom” now available to us, I urge you to read (or re-read) Humanae Vitae in a spirit of openness. Copies of the encyclical are available free of charge in your parish church, or can be obtained by telephoning my office.

Prayerful reconsideration will not hurt any of us, because doing God’s will, whatever the difficulties in identifying it, should be our basic aim.”

Archbishop of Melbourne

July 25, 1998.

We at Family Life International Australia believe that we will not BEGIN to defeat the culture of death until Humanae Vitae is faithfully proclaimed by our Bishops, and faithfully adhered to by the laity.

Given the widespread dissent from Humanae Vitae, many Catholics today may not know that, on the publication of the encyclical in 1968, Norman Cardinal Gilroy, on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Australia, sent a note of congratulations to Pope Paul VI thanking him for this “splendid document”. Subsequently the Catholic Weekly (Sydney August 8 1968), printed a front page article entitled “Encyclical Binding Say Aust Bishops” in which they quoted the following statement:

“His Holiness Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical letter “On the Regulation of Birth,” has taught clearly and unequivocally, by virtue of the authority given to him by Christ, which methods are lawful and which are not lawful in the regulating of birth.

This teaching of the Holy Father is an official exercise of his ordinary teaching authority. It deals with a matter of the utmost importance to the Church and the entire human family.

Exercising that teaching ministry which is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, Pope Paul, with deep personal anguish and after long study, consultation and prayer, haw made this decision.

Although the Holy Father did not choose to use his teaching authority to its full extent by a solemn definition, the doctrine of the encyclical is authentic and authoritative.

Accordingly every member of the Church must be considered bound to accept the decision given by the Pope. To refuse to do so would be a grave act of disobedience.

Conscience is indeed the ultimate guide of the morality of our actions. However, the Second Vatican Council teaches in its Declaration on Religious Freedom (No. 14) that Christians in the formation of their consciences must be guided by the doctrine of the church. “It is the Church’s duty to give utterance to the authoritatively to teach that truth which is Christ Himself and also to declare and confirm by her authority those principles of the moral order which have their origin in human nature itself.”

Those who find it difficult to accept the decision of the Holy Father are asked on the name of Christ Our Divine Master to give deep consideration in prayer to the words of His Vicar on earth.

They may thus hope to receive enlightenment from the Holy Spirit to see the law of God as interpreted by the Holy Father and the grace to observe it faithfully.

Sharing that compassion so feelingly expressed by Pope Paul, we pray that husbands and wives may find in bishops and priests Christ-like kindness and understanding in the difficutlies of their vocation of marriage.” August 5, 1968.

Six years later in 1974 the Catholic Bishops of Australia issued a Pastoral Letter On The Application of ‘Humanae Vitae’.

Then at the plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops of Australia held in Sydney (August 30th - September 5th 1976) the Bishops affirmed the teaching against artificial methods of birth control contained in Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae of 25 July 1968. Their statement to that effect is found in the newsletter they published after their February 1978 Conference. It reads in number 30 subsection (a) under the title of Family Planning:

“The Episcopal Conference informs the Directors of Catholic Family Planning Centres and Priests connected with this work, that the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church contained in Humanae Vitae that ‘every action which either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible’ is ‘intrinsically evil’ and to be absolutely excluded, binds the consciences of all without ambiguity and excludes the possibility of a probable opinion opposed to this teaching”. (August 1976)

This affirmation of the Australian Catholic Bishops revised the earlier statement made by them in 1974 which relied wholly on a subjective definition of conscience. Sadly, the 1976 statement was only addressed to the Directors of Catholic Family Planning Centres. The relevant passages that were sent to them appear in their 1978 newsletter referred to above. The 1974 statement, on the other hand, received wide publicity and is still being quoted today.

Images of the documents appear below.

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