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GENERAL AUDIENCE OF 25 JULY [1984]
On Wednesday morning, 25 July, at the general audience in St
Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II continued his analysis of Paul VI's
Encyclical, "Humanae Vitae", in the context of his reflections on the
theology of the body. Following is our translation of the Holy Father's
address.
1. Today we continue our reflections which are directed toward
linking the Encyclical Humanae Vitae to our whole treatment of
the theology of the body. This encyclical is not limited to recalling
the moral norm concerning conjugal life, reconfirming this norm in the
face of new circumstances. In making a pronouncement with the authentic
Magisterium through the encyclical (1968), Paul VI had before his eyes
the authoritative statement of the Second Vatican Council contained in
the Constitution Gaudium et Spes (1965).
The Encyclical is not only found to be along the lines of the Council's
teaching. It also constitutes the development and completion of
the questions contained there, especially regarding the question of the
"harmony of human love with respect for life." On this point, we read
the following words in Gaudium et Spes: "The Church issues the
reminder that a true contradiction cannot exist between the divine laws
pertaining to the transmission of life and those pertaining to the
fostering of authentic conjugal love" (GS 51).
Moral norm does not contradict reason
2. The pastoral constitution of Vatican II excludes any true
contradiction whatsoever in the normative order. On his part Paul VI
confirms this order by seeking at the same time to shed light on that
"non-contradiction," and thus to justify the respective moral norm by
demonstrating its conformity to reason.
Nevertheless, Humanae Vitae speaks not so much of the
non-contradiction in the normative order as of the inseparable
connection between the transmission of life and authentic marital
love. It speaks from the point of view of the "two significances of the
conjugal act: the unitive significance and the procreative significance"
(HV 12), which we have already dealt with.
3. We could pause for some time here analyzing the norm itself, but the
character of both documents leads rather to reflections that are at
least indirectly pastoral. In fact, Gaudium et Spes is a pastoral
constitution, and Paul VI's encyclical—with
its doctrinal value—tends
to have the same orientation. It is intended to be a response to the
questions of modern man. These questions are of a demographic
nature, and consequently of a socioeconomic and political nature, in
relation to the population increase throughout the world. These
questions begin from the field of particular sciences, and at the same
rate are questions of modern moralists (theologians-moralists). They are
above all questions of spouses which are already found at the center of
attention in the conciliar constitution and are taken up again in the
encyclical with all desirable precision. In fact, we read there:
"Granted the conditions of life today and taking into account the
relevance of married love to the harmony and mutual fidelity of husband
and wife, would it not be right to review the moral norms in
force till now, especially when it is felt that these can be observed
only with the gravest difficulty, sometimes only by heroic effort?" (HV
3)
Pastoral argument
4. In the above text it is evident with what solicitude the
encyclical's author tries to face the questions of modern man in all
their import. The relevance of these questions presupposes a response
that is proportionately thought out and profound. Therefore, if on the
one hand it is right to expect a keenly sensitive treatment of the norm,
on the other hand it can also be expected that no small weight be
given to the pastoral arguments. These more directly concern the
life of man in the concrete, of precisely those who are posing the
questions mentioned in the beginning.
Paul VI always had these people before his eyes. The following passage
of Humanae Vitae is evidence of this, among other things: "The
teaching of the Church regarding the right ordering of the increase of a
man's family is a promulgation of the law of God himself. And yet there
is no doubt that to many it may appear not merely difficult but even
impossible to observe. Now it is true that like all good things which
are outstanding for their nobility and for the benefits which they
confer on men, so this law demands from individual men and women, from
families and from human society a resolute purpose and great endurance.
Indeed it cannot be observed unless God comes to their help with that
grace by which the good will of men is sustained and strengthened. But
to those who consider this matter diligently it will indeed be evident
that this endurance enhances man's dignity and confers benefits on human
society" (HV 20).
Rule of understanding
5. At this point there is no more mention of the normative
non-contradiction, but rather of the "possibility of observing the
divine law," that is, of an argument that is at least indirectly
pastoral. The fact that the law must be possible to observe belongs
directly to the very nature of law and is therefore included in the
framework of the normative non-contradiction. Nevertheless the
possibility, understood as the feasibility of the norm, belongs
also to the practical and pastoral sphere. In the text quoted, my
predecessor speaks precisely from this point of view.
6. We can here arrive at a consideration of the fact that the whole
biblical background, called the theology of the body, offers us,
even though indirectly, the confirmation of the truth of the moral norm
contained in Humanae Vitae, prepares us to consider more
deeply the practical and pastoral aspects of the problem in its
entirety. Were not the principles and general presuppositions of the
theology of the body all taken from the answers Christ gave to the
questions of his actual audience? And are not Paul's texts—as,
for example, in the Letter to the Corinthians—a
small manual on the problems of the moral life of Christ's first
followers? In these texts we certainly find that rule of
understanding which seems so indispensable in the face of the
problems treated in Humanae Vitae and which is present in this
Encyclical.
Whoever believes that the Council and the Encyclical do not sufficiently
take into account the difficulties present in concrete life does not
understand the pastoral concern that was at the origin of those
documents. Pastoral concern means the search for the true good of
man, a promotion of the values engraved in his person by God. That is,
it means observing that rule of understanding which is directed to the
ever clearer discovery of God's plan for human love, in the certitude
that the only true good of the human person consists in
fulfilling this divine plan.
One could say that, precisely in the name of the aforementioned rule of
understanding, the Council posed the question of the "harmony of human
love with respect for life" (GS 51). Humanae Vitae then
not only recalls the moral norms that are binding in this area, but is
also fully concerned with the problem of the possibility of observing
the divine law.
The present reflections on the nature of the document Humanae Vitae
prepare us to deal then with the theme of responsible parenthood.
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