Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) is Pope Paul VI’s famed 1968 encyclical on contraception and reproductive ethics. Written in light of a study commissioned by the Vatican on modern reproductive issues, its timing coincided with the sudden prevalence of contraception and concerns about overpopulation in society at large. Pope Paul VI’s writings reaffirmed long-held Church . . . Read more
The Second Prediction: Men Would Lose Respect for Women The second prediction of Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, no. 17, was that if people resorted to contraception, men would lose respect for women: Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget . . . Read more
The Predictions of Pope Saint Paul VI The first prediction of Paul VI in Humanae Vitae, no. 17 was that if people resorted to contraception, there would follow a general increase in immorality, especially among the youth, and also an increase in marital infidelity: Upright men can even better convince themselves of the solid grounds . . . Read more
Man as Collaborator “Married people are the free and responsible collaborators with God the Creator in the most serious duty of transmitting human life,” reads the very first sentence of Humanae Vitae. Explicit mention of God also occurs at least 24 times in the encyclical. Then Pope Paul VI refers to married couples being “collaborators” . . . Read more
The Predictions of Humanae Vitae We begin our exposition of Humanae Vitae (HV) with section no. 17. In this part of the document, Pope Paul VI lays out four predictions as to what would happen in society if teaching against contraception went unheeded. Let us remember that this teaching is not simply a particular doctrine . . . Read more
Humanae Vitae Was No “Invention;” It Repeated Church Teaching Since the 1960’s Western culture has been in a downward spiral of moral decadence. The contraceptive pill, introduced in the U.S. during that decade, brought about the so-called “sexual revolution.” This revolution brought in turn an unprecedented increase in sexual promiscuity, conjugal infidelity, divorce, abortion, and . . . Read more
Note: Father Boquet’s series in all parts may be accessed here. “Birth Control is a name given to a succession of different expedients by which it is possible to filch the pleasure belonging to a natural process while violently and unnaturally thwarting the process itself.” — G.K. Chesterton “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether . . . Read more
Note: Father Boquet’s series in all parts may be accessed here. Ruining Respectful Relationships Between the Sexes “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church… Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and . . . Read more
Note: Father Boquet’s series in all parts may be accessed here. “Contraception Leads to Falsification, Deception…” Released in 1968, at the height of the hippie revolution with its optimistic doctrines of “free love” and emancipation from tradition and authority, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae was widely dismissed as the proverbial killjoy at the greatest . . . Read more
Note: Father Boquet’s series in all parts may be accessed here. Pope Paul VI Re-Affirms Church Teaching on Inherent Dignity of Marriage “False teachers, many belonging to an intellectual elite in the worlds of science, culture and the media, present an anti-gospel…When you ask them, “What must I do?” their only certainty is that there is . . . Read more
