After 45 years, ‘Humanae Vitae’ still sounds current

July 25 marked the 45th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae,” an encyclical much derided, reviled and ignored back in 1968 by a great many modern people. But reading this 10-page letter, with 41 footnotes, is not overly difficult, and to me the encyclical sounds as if it were written only yesterday.

Consider, for instance, paragraph 17: “…careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempts to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.”

Sounds like some punitive measures designed to coerce couples to follow a certain course of action.

As well, over the last few decades, it seems there has been an epidemic of breast cancer, and perhaps it’s more than coincidental with the rising use of the pill.

Dr. Angela Lanfranchi is a distinguished medical practitioner and feminist, and she has noted the adverse side effects of the contraceptive pill. One can easily listen to her carefully worded lectures on YouTube, and come to one’s own conclusions.

“Humanae Vitae” is a most prophetic and inspired encyclical, and it has stood the test of time. Maybe it really is an inerrant, infallible and inspired letter to all men and women of good will asking them to think carefully before playing Russian roulette with their bodies and those of their children to come.

—WALTER P KOMARNICKI,

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