Papa Benedetto Reaffirms Humanae Vitae

Here is Papa Benedetto's Message to participants in the International Congress on the 40th anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae promoted by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family (October 2, 2008)

To Monsignor Livio Melina

Director of the "John Paul II" Pontifical Institute For Studies on Marriage and the Family

I have learned with joy that the Pontifical Institute, of which you are director, and the Catholic University of the "Sacro Cuore" have organized, opportunely, an international congress on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical "Humanae Vitae," an important document which addresses one of the essential aspects of the marital vocation and of the specific path of holiness that follows from it. The spouses, in fact, having received the gift of love, are called to become in turn gift to one another without reservations. Only thus the acts proper and exclusive to the spouses are really acts of love that, while uniting them in one flesh, build a genuine personal communion. Hence, the logic of the totality of the gift configures conjugal love intrinsically and, thanks to the sacramental effusion of the Holy Spirit, becomes the means to realize in one's life a genuine conjugal charity.
The possibility to create a new human life is included in the integral donation of the spouses. If, in fact, every form of love tends to spread the fullness of which it lives, conjugal love has its own form of communicating itself: the generation of children. Thus not only is it similar to, but it participates in the love of God, who wills to communicate himself by calling human persons to life. To exclude this communicative dimension through an action directed to prevent procreation means to deny the profound truth of spousal love, with which the divine gift is communicated: "If one does not wish to expose to the free will of men the mission to generate life, insurmountable limits must necessarily be recognized to the possibility of man's dominion over his own body and its functions; limits that no man, both private as well as invested with authority, can licitly infringe" ("Humanae Vitae," 17). This is the essential nucleus of the teaching that my venerated predecessor Paul VI addressed to spouses, and that the Servant of God John Paul II, in turn, reaffirmed on many occasions, illuminating its anthropological and moral foundation.At a distance of 40 years since the publication of the encyclical, we can better understand how decisive this light is to understand the great "yes" that conjugal love implies. In this light, children are no longer the object of a human project, but recognized as a genuine gift to receive, with an attitude of responsible generosity before God, first source of human life. This great "yes" to the beauty of love certainly entails gratitude, both of the parents on receiving the gift of a child, and of the child himself on knowing that his life has its origin in such great and receptive love.
It is true, on the other hand, that in the path of the couple there can be grave circumstances which make it prudent to delay the birth of children or even suspend it. And it is here that knowledge of the natural rhythms of the woman's fertility become important for the life of the spouses. The methods of observation, which allow the couple to determine the periods of fertility, allow them to administer all that the Creator has widely inscribed in human nature, without disturbing the integral meaning of sexual donation. In this way, the spouses, respecting the full truth of their love, will be able to modulate its expression in conformity with these rhythms, without taking away anything from the totality of the gift of themselves that the union of the flesh expresses. Obviously, this requires maturity in love, which is not immediate, but which needs reciprocal dialogue and listening and a singular control of the sexual impulse on a path of growth in virtue.
In this perspective, knowing that the congress is also taking place at the initiative of the Catholic University of the "Sacro Cuore," I am also pleased to express my particular appreciation for all that this university institution does in support of the Paulus VI International Scientific Research Institute on Human Fertility and Infertility for a Responsible Procreation (ISI), presented to my unforgettable predecessor, Pope John Paul II, hoping in this way to give an institutionalized answer, so to speak, to the appeal made by Pope Paul VI in No. 24 of the encyclical "to the men of science."ISI's task, in fact, is to make progress of the methods both of natural regulation of human fertility as well as the natural overcoming of infertility. Today, "thanks to the progress of biological and medical sciences, man can make use of ever more effective therapeutic resources, but also obtain new powers of unforeseeable consequences on human life from its very beginning and its first stages" (Instruction "Donum Vitae," 1). In this perspective, "Many researchers are engaged in the fight against sterility. While fully safeguarding the dignity of human procreation, some have achieved results which previously seemed unattainable. Scientists therefore are to be encouraged to continue their research with the aim of preventing the causes of sterility and of being able to remedy them so that sterile couples will be able to procreate in full respect for their own personal dignity and that of the child to be born" (Instruction "Donum Vitae," 8). This is precisely the end that the Paul VI ISI and other similar centers intend to do with the support of the ecclesiastical authority.
We can ask ourselves, how is it possible that today the world, and also many of the faithful, find so much difficulty in understanding the message of the Church, which illustrates and defends the beauty of conjugal love in its natural manifestation? Certainly, the technical solution, also in important human questions, often seems to be the easiest, but in reality it conceals the fundamental question, which refers to the meaning of human sexuality and to the need for responsible self-control, so that its exercise can become the expression of personal love.On the contrary, as we well know, not even reason is sufficient: It is necessary that the heart see. Only the eyes of the heart can understand the demands of great love, able to embrace the totality of the human being. Because of this, the service that the Church offers in its marriage and family pastoral care must be able to direct couples to understand with the heart the wonderful design that God has inscribed in the human body, helping them to accept all that is entailed in a genuine path of maturing.
The congress you are holding represents, because of this, an important moment of reflection and attention for couples and for families, offering the fruit of years of research, both on the anthropological and ethical part as on the strictly scientific part, in regard to truly responsible procreation. In the light of this I cannot but congratulate you, hoping that this work will bring abundant fruits and contribute to support spouses with ever-greater wisdom and clarity on their path, encouraging them in their mission of being, in the world, credible witnesses of the beauty of love. With these wishes, while I invoke the help of the Lord on the development of the congress, I send all a special apostolic blessing.

In the Vatican, Oct. 2, 2008
BENEDICTUS PP XVI