Honesty in the Church
Yesterday at least one metropolitan
paper ran a full-page advertisement (paid for by the Human Life Foundation)
which commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the papal encyclical
Humanae
vitae. In this encyclical Pope Paul VI declared that the only birth-control
methods acceptable to the Catholic Church are abstinence and the rhythm
method. He explained that "... in any use whatever of marriage, there must
be no impairment of its natural capacity to procreate human life."
We regret that we cannot
agree with the Human Life Foundation's description of the anniversary as
"a celebration of conjugal love." On the contrary the criticism and condemnation
of Humanae vitae over the past 25 years force us to conclude that
the encyclical generated serious doubts about the wisdom of the Church
as a guide in matters of faith and morals.
Furthermore the way Humanae
vitae was drafted raises the issue of honesty. We recall that in 1962,
Pope John XXIII set up the Pontifical Commission on the Family, which had
among its tasks a study of the Church's position on birth control. After
Pope John died in 1963, Pope Paul VI enlarged the commission until its
membership reached 68 and appointed a great number of consultants to advise
and monitor the progress of the commission.
David A. Yallop, in the
book In God's Name, reports that the commission in essence "advised
the pope that consensus had been reached by an overwhelming majority of
its members (64 to 4), as well as by theologians, legal experts, historians,
sociologists, doctors, obstetricians, and married couples, that a change
in the Catholic Church's stand on artificial birth control was both possible
and advisable."
The commission's report
was submitted in mid-1966 to a smaller group of cardinals and bishops.
Yallop says that eight voted in favor of recommending the report to the
pope, six voted against, and six abstained.
The commission report was
opposed by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, secretary of the Supreme Congregation
of the Holy Office, Yallop continues. The cardinal persuaded the four dissenting
members of the commission to write a separate dissenting report -- which
was given to the pope along with the commission report. By this time most
of the commission members had returned to their respective countries and
were unaware of the existence of the dissenting minority report.
Throughout 1967 and early
1968, Cardinal Ottaviani and other church officials who opposed any change
in the Church's position on contraception exerted pressure on Pope Paul
VI, Yallop reports. The pope decided that he would make the final decision.
He retired to Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer residence and drafted
the encyclical.
Humanae vitae was
the result. In effect the pope ignored the advice of the commission which
had been set up (and which he had expanded) to advise him on the issue
of birth control.
It is this history of Humanae
vitae -- which the Human Life Foundation seems to be unaware of --
that raises the issue of honesty within the Church.
The larger issue of honesty
is even more salient today.
Since most Catholics will
agree that abortion is murder, Catholics who support Humanae vitae propose
a questionable "domino theory" of contraception -- that acceptance of any
artificial means of contraception will sooner or later lead to abortion.
Hence every artificial means of contraception should be banned.
The domino theory of contraception
ignores the basic question the faithful ask. It is the question implied
by the comment of obstetrician Dante Hellegers, a member of the ignored
pontifical commission, "I cannot believe that salvation is based on contraception
by temperature and damnation is based on rubber."