Youth Blog

Humanae Vitae, released 56 years ago today, received a response from the world that put St. Pope Paul VI into great shock. From his election in 1963 to the issuing of this monumental document on July 25th, 1968, the supreme pontiff published multiple encyclicals. Personal testimonies of those around him speak about how the profound backlash and disobedience to his encyclical affected him, causing him to not publish another encyclical for the rest of his reign, which ended in 1978. 

In a time of technological and societal change which led to the sexual revolution and widespread use of contraceptive pills, St. Paul VI reaffirmed Christian moral teaching, “We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children … excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means.” 

Progressive Christians and even clergy throughout the world refused submission to the truths of Humanae Vitae, provoking great chaos among the faithful. Canada was not free from such dissent, sadly even on the part of the Canadian bishops’ conference of the time. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) published a document known as the “Winnipeg Statement" two months after the release of the papal encyclical. This statement was a response to Humanae Vitaoe and was an effort on the part of the CCCB to approach the difficulty many in the church had with accepting the prohibition of artificial contraception, and to advise its members on how to respond to such Christians. Paragraph 26 of the document stated, “In accord with the accepted principles of moral theology, if these persons have tried sincerely but without success to pursue a line of conduct in keeping with the given directives, they may be safely assured that, whoever honestly chooses that course which seems right to him does so in good conscience.” 

Bishop Alexander Carter, then President of the CCCB, explained, “We faced the necessity of making a statement which many felt could not be a simple ‘Amen,’ a total and formal endorsement of the doctrine of the encyclical—we had to reckon with the fact of widespread dissent from some points of his teaching among the Catholic faithful, priests, theologians, and probably some of our own number.”  

Although an honest pastoral attempt to sustain the harmony of the Canadian church, the dismissal of the truth laid out in Humanae Vitae present in the "Winnipeg Statement" was a significant error. The late Monsignor Foy of the Archdiocese of Toronto was the most notable critic of the statement. His efforts earned him a papal commendation and the Pro-life Man of the Year Award. As reported in an article for The Interim on the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, "Msgr. Foy wrote in 1998, 'the rejection of Humanae Vitae brings with it a train of evils which destroy family life' ... Msgr. Foy argued that the 'Winnipeg Statement' was a 'major factor' in Canadian Catholics rejecting Humanae Vitae." 

 One of the authors of the statement, Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, partially repudiated the wording of its most controversial line (see above), “I am not prepared to defend paragraph 26 totally.” Further, the CCCB released the pastoral letter Liberating Potential on the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae in 2008 which was unquestioned to be in full conformity with the encyclical, “Sexuality, sign of love, is called to be open to something that is greater than itself, that is, to welcome fruitfulness, which in turn is linked to the good of the spouses and expresses their conjugal love.” 

Humanae Vitae is often commented on as being prophetic. This is because what St. Paul VI wrote would happen if there should be an acceptance of artificial birth control, did happen. “Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards,” consequences that are clearly more-than-present in the modern world, especially Canada. He also warned, “a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” After spending my high school years among young men, many of whom use contraceptives frequently, I have seen their lack of reverence for women to be clear as day. Moreover, St. Paul VI raised the concern that contraception, sterilization, and abortion was too great a power to give to governments, “they may even impose their use on everyone … into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.” This concern has been vindicated time and again, notably by the ideological colonization that Canada heavily participates in, imposing contraceptives and baby-killing facilities onto pro-life and pro-family countries in Africa. 

Following the example of St. Paul VI, we must stand our ground in the defence of the principles we know and hold so dear regarding marriage, family, and life. We must not allow ourselves and our society to act contrary to the truths of our nature and dignity. On the anniversary of such a profound, pro-life document which stands for the truth over and against the world, we must, in the spirit of St. Pope Paul VI, assert that “man cannot attain that true happiness for which he yearns with all the strength of his spirit, unless he keeps the laws which the Most High God has engraved in his very nature.”