Blessed Pope Paul VI is still right after 50 Years

This year of 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of the most famous papal encyclicals of the 20 ^th Century, Humanae Vitae. Blessed (soon to be Saint) Pope Paul VI issued this marvelous restatement of the constant and authoritative teaching of the Catholic Church on the holy state of marriage and its essential goods and properties. What ensued from its first moment and continues to this day is a reaction to the truth which should not surprise anyone but it should certainly sadden all of us.
 
I would like to correct a real falsehood perpetrated by the secular world and even by some from the Catholic Church that this encyclical is strictly about artificial means of birth control. While that is what the Holy Father used as the prime example of what will not only undermine real and true marriage between one man and one woman, but will certainly have far reaching and negative effects on all men and women and on the greater society and culture. What the Holy Father did is write an excellent restatement of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the true nature and purpose of marriage.
 
I would venture a guess that many of the past and present critics of this magnificent statement have not taken the time to read and reflect on exactly what Blessed Paul VI said and why he said it. They accepted blindly what the secular world interpreted it to be and say since it certainly did not and still does not conform to their intentionally erroneous idea of marriage, family, and human dignity.
 
If you have not read Humanae Vitae or have not read it in a long time, I urge you to get a copy and read it and reflect on it intelligently, and not as was done when the Pope published it in 1968. What is so apparent from the clear and understandable language is that the Holy Father is repeating and further explaining the beauty of the three essential goods of marriage—permanence, fidelity and children—and how by their very nature cannot be arbitrarily separated from the two essential properties of marriage—unity and fruitfulness—without destroying marriage itself. When one destroys real marriage what follows is the destruction of human life in the womb, and cheapening of human life outside of the womb, the total objectification of men and women who can be used for personal satisfaction and the corruption of true family life. 
 
Blessed Pope Paul VI highlights these facts which he based correctly on long human experience by stressing that any artificial obstruction of the natural human process of procreating new human life goes to the heart of what cannot be legitimately separated in the uniquely and absolutely faithful relationship between a husband and wife. The very act of full marital physical intercourse between the husband and wife is the ultimate expression of human love of the one for the other. This beautiful act makes the union of their persons and lives ever stronger and from this unitive act the real possibility of the creation of new human life flows. Thus, a child is a gift from God to this woman and man as a living reminder of how much He loves them and of how much they love each other. 
 
To obstruct this love and its fruitfulness in any artificial way is to do real violence to this union of a man and woman and to each other. Why? Because using any artificial means to prevent conception transforms their union from one of two subjects of each other’s love and devotion to a union of convenience, to making each other the objects of self-serving pleasure and ultimately artificial contraception creates a physical and emotional barrier to spousal communication on any level, all to the destruction of their true union. In a word, artificial contraception is a lie because it leads one to believe that this union does not need a firm and mutual commitment. It does just one thing, it says that marriage is a strictly human creation which can be used, abused and altered by humans and done so whenever they so choose. This is false and it always has been and always will be and Blessed Pope Paul VI simply repeats this objective and immutable truth.
 
Finally, the Holy Father brings us back to the first consideration of true marriage. This type of union of one man and one woman, which is absolutely exclusive to them, permanent and always open to new life, is a human representation of the life-giving love of the Most Blessed Trinity. Thus, it is not for any human person or group to presume to alter or dismiss it as if it were just another object. As human life itself, so the one and only union from which new life is born is unique to human beings and its origin is in God, not in human beings.
 
Again, what a gift this great encyclical has been and continues to be to our Church and to the world. Read it and live the life of true marital virtue Blessed Pope Paul VI calls for.