Life is sacred, so much so that Almighty God protects our participation of the procreation of life in the sacrament of marriage. See how the world and modern man try to control the propagation of life daily life and in healthcare. In the 50th anniversary year of Humanae Vitae, the July issue of The Angelus corresponds to the main topics explored in this year's Angelus Press Conference.
Paul VI presided over a church in transition from the pre to the post-Vatican II eras. This transition witnessed the most fundamental revision of Roman Catholic liturgy in centuries, a changing priesthood marked by mass defections, a world deeply troubled from the crisis of authority and the liberation of the taboos.
In such critical context, Humanae Vitae stood at a sign of contradiction. In the controversy about contraceptives, Pope Paul VI, acting solo against his friends’ advice, produced the momentous encyclical which reaffirmed the age-old objective morality and denounced the pill. Yet, the experience had been excruciating for the liberal pope. Two years of indecision and his moral paralysis to go against his entourage revealed that he was not capable to lead the Church against a world quickly going mad. He seemed paralyzed in dealing with the Dutch catechism scandal, as well as some US prelates, along with a long list of de facto schismatic Episcopal conferences.
May this 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae see the resurgence of Tradition and traditional teaching in the See of Peter.
