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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF WEDNESDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER 1984
At the 5 September general audience held in St Peter's Square, Pope John Paul continued the Church's teaching on birth regulation according to "Humanae Vitae" and "Familiaris Consortio".
"The Lord was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your
youth.... Has not the one God made and sustained for us the spirit of life? What
does he desire? Godly offspring. So take heed to yourselves and let none be
faithless to the wife of his youth" (Mal 2:14-15).
1. We have previously spoken of the right and lawful regulation of fertility
according to the doctrine contained in the Encyclical Humanae Vitae (HV
19), and in the Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. The description of
"natural," attributed to the morally correct regulation of fertility
(following the natural rhythms, cf. HV 16), is explained by the fact that that
manner of conduct corresponds to the truth of the person and therefore to his
dignity. This dignity by "nature" belongs to man as a rational and
free being. As a rational free being, man can and must reread with discernment
that biological rhythm which belongs to the natural order. He can and must
conform to it so as to exercise that responsible parenthood, which, according to
the Creator's design, is inscribed in the natural order of human fecundity. The
concept of a morally correct regulation of fertility is nothing other than the
rereading of the language of the body in truth. The "natural rhythms
immanent in the generative functions" pertain to the objective truth of
that language, which the persons concerned should reread in its full
objective content. It is necessary to bear in mind that the body speaks not
merely with the whole external expression of masculinity and femininity, but
also with the internal structures of the organism, of the somatic and
psychosomatic reaction. All this should find its appropriate place in that
language in which husband and wife dialogue with each other, as persons called
to the communion of the union of the body.
At the cost of a precise self-denial
2. All efforts directed to an ever more precise knowledge of those natural
rhythms which are manifested in relation to human procreation, all efforts of
family counselors and indeed of the couple themselves, are not aimed at making
the language of the body merely biological (at reducing ethics to biology, as
some have mistakenly held). But they are aimed exclusively at ensuring the
integral truth of that language of the body in which husband and wife should
express themselves in a mature way before the demands of responsible parenthood.
The Encyclical Humanae Vitae stresses several times that responsible
parenthood is connected with a continual effort and commitment, and that it is
put into effect at the cost of a precise self-denial (cf. HV 21). All these and
other similar expressions show that in the case of responsible parenthood, or of
a morally correct regulation of fertility, it is a question of the real good
of human persons and of what corresponds to the true dignity of the person.
Right conscience is true interpreter
3. The use of the infertile periods for conjugal union can be an abuse if the
couple, for unworthy reasons, seeks in this way to avoid having children, thus
lowering the number of births in their family below the morally correct level.
This morally correct level must be established by taking into account not only
the good of one's own family, and even the state of health and the means of the
couple themselves, but also the good of the society to which they belong, of the
Church, and even of all mankind.
The Encyclical Humanae Vitae presents responsible parenthood as an
expression of a high ethical value. In no way is it exclusively directed
to limiting, much less excluding, children. It means also the willingness to
accept a larger family. Above all, according to Humanae Vitae,
responsible parenthood implies "a deeper relationship with the objective
moral order instituted by God—the
order of which a right conscience is the true interpreter" (HV 10).
Moral maturity
4. The truth of responsible parenthood and its implementation is linked with the moral maturity of the person. Here, the divergence is very frequently revealed between what the encyclical explicitly regards as of primary importance and the general viewpoint on the subject.
The Encyclical places in relief the ethical dimension of the problem, by
underlining the role of the virtue of temperance correctly understood.
Within the scope of this dimension there is also an adequate method for acting.
In the common viewpoint it often happens that the method, separated from the
ethical dimension proper to it, is put into effect in a merely functional and
even utilitarian way. By separating the natural method from the ethical
dimension, one no longer sees the difference between it and the other methods
(artificial means). One comes to the point of speaking of it as if it were only
a different form of contraception.
5. From the point of view of the true doctrine expressed by the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, it is therefore important to present this method correctly, and the
encyclical refers to this (cf. HV 16). Above all it is important to examine
in depth the ethical dimension. For it is in reference to this that the
method, as natural, acquires its significance as a morally correct, upright
method. Therefore within the framework of the present analysis, it is fitting
that we should turn our attention principally to what the encyclical states on
the subject of self-mastery and on continence. Without a searching
interpretation of that subject we shall not arrive either at the heart of the
moral truth, or at the heart of the anthropological truth of the problem. It was
already pointed out that the roots of this problem lie deep in the theology of
the body. When it becomes, as it ought to, the pedagogy of the body, this
constitutes in reality the morally right and lawful method of the regulation of
births, understood in its deepest and fullest sense.
Lawful regulation
6. Later when describing the specifically moral values of the natural
regulation of fertility (that is, lawful or morally right), the author of Humanae Vitae writes as follows: "This self-discipline...brings to family life
abundant fruits of tranquillity and peace. It helps in solving difficulties of
other kinds. It fosters in husband and wife thoughtfulness and loving
consideration for each other. It helps them to repel the excessive self-love
which is the opposite of charity. It arouses in them a consciousness of their
responsibilities. And finally, it confers upon parents a deeper and more
effective influence in the education of their children. For these latter, both
in childhood and in youth, as years go by, develop a right sense of values as
regards the true blessings of life and achieve a serene and harmonious use of
their mental and physical powers" (HV 21).
7. The passage cited completes the picture of what the Encyclical Humanae Vitae means by "the right and lawful ordering of the births of
children" (HV 21). As can be seen, this is not merely a mode of behavior in
a specific field. It is an attitude which is based on the integral moral
maturity of the persons and at the same time completes it.
Taken from: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO - English Edition -- Reprinted with Permission -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana - The Holy See