116. Importance of Harmonizing Human Love
with Respect for Life
By Pope John Paul II
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.