'CARITAS IN VERITATE'

I would not forgive myself if I put off this translation any longer. I found it one of the most perceptive first reactions upon the release of CIV. It resonates with my own reception of Benedict XVI's message that the sacredness of life underpins every discussion one can have about development and progress.

It is a message that quite a few commentators have since written on - especially those who have previously shown with objective facts that declining birth rate is a brake to progress. The first three I posted earlier from ZENIT are in that class. I hope I can put together more articles soon.

Meanwhile, Magister's blog is a good way to start and a helpful exercise in correlation.


For Cardinal Martini,
Paul VI's 'Humanae Vitae' is a dead branch,
but Benedict XVI makes it flower again!
Translated from

July 7, 2009



In the encyclical Caritas in veritate released today, Benedict XVI dedicates an entire chapter to Populorum progressio, the great social encyclical from Paul VI, published in 1967.

And surprisingly - but not to those who follow the Pope's thinking - he also praised alongside it the other famous encyclical by Paul VI, Humanae vitae, saying it, too, is highly important for delineating the fully human meaning of the development that the Church proposes." [Italicized in the original text).

The encyclical Humanae Vitae, Benedict XVI explains in Paragraph 15 of Caritas in veritate, "indicates the strong links between life ethics and social ethics, ushering in a new era of magisterial teaching that has gradually been articulated in a series of documents, most recently John Paul II's encyclical Evangelioum Vitae.


"The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that 'a society lacks solid foundations, when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized'".

As a gloss to this passage in Caritas in veritate, it must be recalled that Paul VI himself was supremely convinced of the indissoluble link between Populorum progressio and Humanae Vitae. On June 18, 1978, the last year of his life, he brought it to light this way, in a homily which was almost like an accounting of his Pontificate:

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We consider the defense of human life indispensable. The Second Vatican Council recalled with the most serious words that "God, patron of life, has entrusted to men the highest mission of protecting life" (Gaudium et Spes, 51).

And we, who consider absolute fidelity to the teachings of the Council as our assigned task, have made the defense of life - in all the forms in which it can be threatened, disturbed or outright suppressed - as the program of our Pontificate.

Let us recall the most significant points that attest to this intention. First of all, we underscored the duty to favor the technical and material promotion of peoples in the process of development, with the encyclical Populorum progressio on March 26, 1967.

But the defense of life should begin from the sources of human existence itself. This was one of the clear and grave teachings of the Council, which in the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes. admonished that 'life, once conceived, should be protected with the maximum care; and abortion, like infanticide, is an abominable crime" (51).

All we did was to hand down this teaching when, 10 years later, we promulgated the encyclical Humanae Vitae. Inspired by the intangible Biblical and evangelical teachings, which validate the norms of natural law and the irrepressible dictates of conscience about respect for life, whose transmission is entrusted to responsible fatherhood and motherhood, that document has become today a renewed and more urgent reality in view of the wounds (vulnere) inflicted by public legislation on the indissoluble sanctity of the matrimonial bond and the untouchability of human life from the time it is in the mother's womb.

This is the reason for the repeated affirmations of the doctrine of the Catholic Church on the sad reality and truly painful effects of divorce adn abortion, as contained in the ordinary Magisterium as well as in specific documents of the competent congregation.

We express all this, impelled only by the supreme responsibility of being teacher and universal pastor, and for the good of the human race.

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Another gloss: As we know, Humanae Vitae was publicly disputed by a great number of cardinals, bishops, religious, theologians and faithful, especially in the rich nations, while in the Third World, its social validity was acknowledged and appreciated.

That opulent front of rejection is still active today. Its latest kindling was the book Nocturnal conversations in Jerusalem by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini.

[Magister then refers to his November 2008 article on Martini
Il Gesù del cardinale Martini non avrebbe mai scritto la “Humanae Vitae“
[Cardinal Martini's Jesus would never have written 'Humanae Vitae']
which I translated and posted in the Papa Ratzinger Forum
under the title
The latest broadside from the cardinal who presents himself as the 'ante-Pope'
freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=355175&p=23


Since Magister made Martini the premise of his title for this blog, it's only fair to present here what it was that Martini wrote about Humanae Vitae, as Magister presented it in his earlier article. I still cannot believe that a cardinal once thought to be a possible pope can think the way Martini does - and get away with it.

I suspect primarily because of his age, neither OR nor Avvenire have commented on Martini's book at all!

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In one chapter of the book, the explicit target is Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae on marriage and procreation. Martini accuses it of causing "serious damage" by prohibiting artificial contraception: "many people have withdrawn from the Church, and the Church from people."

Martini accuses Paul VI of deliberately concealing the truth, leaving it to theologians and pastors to fix things by adapting precepts to practice:

"I knew Paul VI well. With the encyclical, he wanted to express consideration for human life. He explained his intention to some of his friends by using a comparison: although one must not lie, sometimes it is not possible to do otherwise; it may be necessary to conceal the truth, or it may be unavoidable to tell a lie. It is up to the moralists to explain where sin begins, especially in the cases in which there is a higher duty than the transmission of life."

And in what way exactly was Paul VI 'concealing the truth' in Humanae Vitae? On the contrary, the document is a frank no-holds-barred statement of Catholic principle on the sanctity of life and God's intrinsic design for procreation.

Paul VI bucked a commission of advisers who recommended that articial contraception may be sanctioned - and I suppose that is because how can a Pope defend such a stand on the basis of Scripture and Tradition?

In effect, the cardinal continues, "after the encyclical Humanae Vitae, the Austrian and German bishops, and many other bishops, with their statements of concern followed a path along which we can continue today." [So, Paul VI should have accommodated the Austrians and Germans then rather than Catholic teaching????]

It is a stance that expresses "a new culture of tenderness and an approach to sexuality that is more free from prejudice." [It is also a willfully selfish and indlugent path which completely ignores natural birth control which only calls for a few days of 'sacrifice' each month for women of reproductive age!]

But after Paul VI came John Paul II, who "followed the path of rigorous application" of the prohibitions in the encyclical. "He didn't want there to be any doubts on this point. It seems that he even considered a declaration that would enjoy the privilege of papal infallibility."

And after John Paul II came Benedict XVI. Martini does not name him, and does not seem to have much confidence in him, but he hazards this prediction:

"Probably the Pope will not revoke the encyclical, but he might write one that would be its continuation. I am firmly convinced that the Church can point out a better way than it did with Humanae Vitae. Being able to admit one's mistakes and the limitations of one's previous viewpoints is a sign of greatness of soul and of confidence. The Church would regain credibility and competence."

That's Martini's view. But those who read only his latest book will learn nothing of the letter, much less the spirit, of that highly controversial encyclical. [Thank God we had much material for informative reading during the recent 40th anniversary of the encyclical.]

Much more instructive, from this point of view, is the address that Papa Ratzinger dedicated to Humanae Vitae on May 10 of this year. Illustrating its contents, he affirmed that "forty years after its publication this teaching not only expresses its unchanged truth but also reveals the farsightedness with which the problem is treated."

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