Humanae vitae
| Humanae vitae Latin : Of Human Life Encyclical letter of Pope Paul VI |
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| Date | 25 July 1968 |
| Argument | About birth control |
| Encyclical number | 7 of 7 of the pontificate |
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Humanae vitae (Latin Of Human Life) is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and dated 25 July 1968 (the text of the document was issued at a Vatican press conference on 29 July). Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirms the orthodox teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the continued rejection of most forms of artificial contraception. In formulating his teaching he did not accept (for reasons he gave in the encyclical) the conclusions of the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control established by his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, and which he himself had expanded.
Mainly because of its prohibition of all forms of artificial contraception, the encyclical was politically controversial, but it affirms traditional Church moral teaching on the sanctity of life and the procreative and unitive nature of conjugal relations. While Paul VI continued to teach through the medium of 122 Apostolic Constitutions, 8 Apostolic Exhortations, 121 Apostolic Letters, innumerable homilies, letters and reflections, he saw no need to issue any more encyclicals in the remaining ten years of his pontificate.
Between 1980 and 1984, Pope John Paul II delivered a series of 129 lectures relating to the nature of marital love dubbed Theology of the Body, which expounds upon Catholic theology of the body and fully vindicates Humanae vitae.Pope Benedict XVI called this topic "controversial, yet so crucial for humanity's future". Humanae vitae became "a sign of contradiction but also of continuity of the Church's doctrine and tradition... What was true yesterday is true also today."
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