July 25, 2008 marked the fortieth anniversary of the promulgation of the encyclical Humane Vitae which was written by Pope Paul VI. The encyclical addresses issues related to the sanctity of life, but it is best known for its clear enunciation of the Church's teaching against the use of any forms of artificial birth control.
Pope John Paul II, then Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, was involved in the work that was done prior to the writing of Humane Vitae. The following is an excerpt from Chapter 6, Successor to St Stanislaw, which is found in George Weigel's biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope.

You can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 by clicking on the links.

The Kraków theologians openly admitted that living marital chastity this way involved real sacrifice, a "great ascetic effort [and] the mastery of self." Education in the virtue of chastity must begin with "respect for others, respect for the body and [for] the realities of sex." Young people had to be taught "the equality of right between man and woman" as the foundation of "mutual responsibility." Pastors who shied away from programs aimed at educating couples in fertility regulation through natural biological rhythms were derelict in their duties, and were complicit in the "grand confusion of ideas" that surrounded sexuality in the modern world. Moreover, the memorandum continued, the pastor did not fulfill his responsibilities as a moral teacher by inveighing against promiscuity. On the contrary, no one could preach or teach persuasively on this subject unless the entire question was put in the humanistic context necessary for the Church's teaching to ring true. It was imperative that pastors work with lay people in this field, for "well-instructed Christian couples" were better positioned to help other couples live chaste lives of sexual love.

Elements of the Kraków commission's memorandum may be found in Humanae Vitae, but Father Bardecki's suggestion that sixty percent of the encyclical reflected the approach devised by the Polish theologians and Cardinal Wojtyla claims too much. Humanae Vitae did make references to Christian personalism, to the good of sexual love, and to the duty of responsibly planning one's family. But the encyclical did not adopt in full the rich personalist context suggested by the Kraków commission. Absent this context, with its emphasis on human dignity and on the equality of spouses in leading Sexually responsible lives, Humanae Vitae's sharp focus on sexual acts opened it to the charge of legalism, "biologism," and pastoral insensitivity, and left the Church vulnerable to the accusation that it had still not freed itself of the shadow of Manichaeism and its deprecation of sexuality.

Although the charge would likely have been made in any case, the encyclical's failure to adopt the full Kraków context made this indictment more difficult to counter. The Kraków proposal came to the same conclusion as the encyclical on the specific question of the legitimate means of fertility regulation. Kraków, however, offered a more compelling explanation of why this position was better fitted to the dignity of the human person, and particularly to the dignity of women.

Next Week: Part 5 from the excerpt

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