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- Page 2- J.MJ. NC News Service Translation Printed
by the DAUGHTERS OF ST. PAUL ENCYCLICAL
LETTER
Two Inseparable Aspects: Union and Procreation 12. That teaching, often set forth by the magisterium, is founded upon the inseparable connection, willed by God and unable to be broken by man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive meaning and the procreative meaning. Indeed, by its intimate structure, the conjugal act, while most closely uniting husband and wife, capacitates them for the generation of new lives, according to laws inscribed in the very being of man and of woman. By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its ordination towards man's most high calling to parenthood. We believe that the men of our day are particularly capable of seizing the deeply reasonable and human character of this fundamental principle. Faithfulness to God's Design 13. It is in fact justly observed that a conjugal act imposed upon one's partner without regard for his or her condition and lawful desires is not a true act of love, and therefore denies an exigency husband and wife. Hence, one who reflects well must also of right moral order in the relationships between recognize that a reciprocal act of love, which jeopardizes the responsibility to transmit life which God the Creator, according to particular laws, inserted therein, is in contradiction with the design constitutive of marriage, and with the will of the Author of life. To use this divine gift destroying, even if only partially, its meaning and its purpose is to contradict the nature both of man and of woman and of their most intimate relationship, and therefore it is to contradict also the plan of God and His will. On the other hand, to make use of the gift of conjugal love while respecting the laws of the generative process means to acknowledge oneself not to be the arbiter of the sources of human life, but rather the minister of the design established by the Creator. In fact, just as man does not have unlimited dominion over his body in general, so also, with particular reason, he has no such dominion over his generative faculties as Such, because of their intrinsic ordination towards raising up life, of which God is the principle. "Human life is sacred," Pope John XXIII recalled; "from its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God."13 Illicit Ways of regulating Birth
14. In conformity with these landmarks in the human and Christian
vision of marriage, we must once again declare that the direct interruption
of the generative process already begun, and, above all, directly
willed and procured abortion, even if for therapeutic reasons, are
to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating birth. 14 to justify conjugal acts made intentionally infecund, one cannot invoke as valid reasons 'the lesser evil, or the fact that such acts would constitute a whole together with the fecund acts already performed or to follow later, and hence would share in one and the same moral goodness. In truth, if it is sometimes licit to tolerate a lesser evil in order toavoid a greater evil or to promote a greater good, 17 it is not licit, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil so that good may follow therefrom 18, that is, to make into the object of a positive act of the will something which is intrinsically disorder, and hence unworthy of the human person, even when the intention is to safeguard or promote individual, family or social well-being. Consequently it is an error to think that a conjugal act which is deliberately made infecund and so is intrinsically dishonest could be made honest and right by the ensemble of a fecund conjugal life. Licitness of Therapeutic Means 15. The use of those therapeutic means truly necessary to cure diseases of the organism, even if an impediment to procreation, which may be foreseen, should result therefrom, provided such impediment is not, for whatever motive, directly willed. 19 Licitness of Recourse to Infecund Periods
16. To this teaching of the Church on conjugal morals, the objection
is made today, as we observed earlier (no.3), that it is the prerogative
of the human intellect to dominate the energies offered by irrational
nature and to orientate them towards an end conformable to the good
of man. Now, some may ask: in the present case, is it not reasonable
in many circumstances to have If, then, there are serious motives to space out births, which derive from the physical or psychological conditions of husband and wife, or from external conditions, the Church teaches that it is then licit to take into account the natural rhythms immanent in the generative functions, for the use of marriage in the infecund periods only, and in this way to regulate birth without offending the moral principles which have been recalled earlier. 20 The Church is coherent with herself when she considers recourse to the infecund periods to be licit, while at the same time condemning, as being always illicit, the use of means directly contrary to fecundation, even if such use is inspired by reasons which may appear honest and serious. In reality, there are essential differences between the two cases; in the former, the married couple make legitimate use of a natural disposition; in the latter, they impede the development of natural processes. It is TRUE that, in the one and the other case, the married couple ARE, concordant in the positive will of avoiding children for plausible reasons, seeking the certainty that offspring will not arrive; but it is also true that only in the former case are they able to renounce the use of marriage in the fecund periods when, for just motives, procreation is not desirable, while making use of it during infecund periods to manifest their affection and to safeguard their mutual fidelity. By so doing, they give proof of a truly and integrally honest love. Grave Consequences of Methods of Artificial Birth Control 17. Upright men can even better convince themselves of the solid grounds on which the teaching of the Church in this field is based, if they care to reflect upon the consequences of methods of artificial birth control. Let them consider, first of all, how wide and easy a road would thus be opened up towards conjugal infidelity and the general lowering of morality. Not much experience is needed in order to know human weakness, and to understand that men - especially the young, who are so vulnerable on this point- have need of encouragement to be faithful to the moral law, so that they must not be offered some easy means of eluding its observance. It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of anticonceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and, no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment, and no longer as his respected and beloved companion.
Let it be considered also that a dangerous weapon would thus be placed
in the hands of those public authorities who take no heed of moral
exigencies. Who could blame a government for applying to the solution
of the problems of the community those means acknowledged to be licit
for married couples in the solution of a family problem? Who will
stop rulers from favoring, from even imposing upon their peoples,
if they were to consider it necessary, the method of contraception
which they judge to be most efficacious ? In such a way men, wishing
to avoid individual, family, or social difficulties encountered in
the observance of the divine law, would reach the point of placing
at the mercy of the intervention of public authorities the most personal
and most reserved sector of conjugal intimacy. The Church, Guarantor of True Human Values
18. It can be foreseen that this teaching will perhaps not be easily
received by all: Too numerous are those voices - amplified by the
modern means of propaganda - which are contrary to the voice of the
Church. To tell the truth, the Church is not surprised to be made,
like her divine founder, a "sign of contradiction," 22 yet
she does not, because of this cease, to proclaim with humble firmness
the entire moral LAW, both natural and evangelical. Of such laws the
Church was not the author, nor consequently can she be their arbiter;
she is only their depositary and their interpreter, without ever being
able to declare to be licit that which is not so by reason of its
intimate and unchangeable opposition to the true good of man. In defending
conjugal morals in their integral wholeness, the Church knows that
she contributes towards the establishment of a truly human civilization;
she engages man not to abdicate from his own responsibility in order
to rely on technical means; by that very fact she defends the dignity
of man and wife. Faithful to both the teaching and the example of
the Savior, she shows herself to be the sincere and disinterested
friend of men, whom she wishes to help, even during their earthly
sojourn, "to share as sons in the life of the living God, the
Father of all III. PASTORAL DIRECTIVES The Church, Mater et Magistra 19. Our words would not be an adequate expression of the thought and solicitude of the Church, mother and teacher of all peoples, if, after having recalled men to the observance and respect of the divine law regarding matrimony, we did not strengthen them in the path of honest regulation of birth, even amid the difficult conditions which today afflict families and peoples. The Church, in fact, cannot have a different conduct towards men than that of the Redeemer. She knows their weaknesses, has compassion on the crowd, receives sinners; but she cannot renounce the teaching of the law which is, in reality, that law proper to a human life restored to its original truth and conducted by the spirit of God. 24 Possibility of Observing the Divine Law 20. The teaching of the Church on the regulation of birth, which promulgates the divine law, will easily appear to many to be difficult or even impossible of actuation. And indeed, like all great beneficent realities, it demands serious engagement and much effort, individual, family and social effort. More than that, it would not be practicable without the help of God, who upholds and strengthens the good will of men. Yet, to anyone who reflects well, it cannot but be clear that such efforts ennoble man and are beneficial to the human community. Continued
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| 2001 Catholics Against Contraception | ||
recourse
to artificial birth control if, thereby, we secure the harmony and
peace of the family, and better conditions for the education of the
children already born? To this question it is necessary to reply with
clarity: the Church is the first to praise