Prophetic Pope Paul VI, a Champion of Human Life, Now Venerable

12/23/2012

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human weakness and to understand that human beings . . . need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

"Finally, 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 attempt 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" (HV 17).

Many of these predictions have come to pass in one form or other: the grave moral decline of contemporary society; the promotion of false notions of freedom which are detached from the moral law; the wildly out-of-control transmission and use of pornography; the devaluation of the institution of marriage; skyrocketing divorce rates; the "friends with benefits" (FWB) phenomenon in which friendships are arranged to include sexual activity without commitment to emotional or any other bonds.

Just a few years after Humanae Vitae the wedge of artificial birth control was driven so deeply between the marital act and human procreation that it spawned the unspeakable evil of legalized abortion in the U.S. under the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. The logical extension of the contraceptive mentality is the abortion mentality.

Further, we are now confronted with the HHS mandate, the attacks on the right to exercise freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, and a President who adamantly insists that it isn't fair for the Catholic Church to refuse to provide abortion inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilizations to insurance recipients. We have to wonder, what is next?

Not until men and women begin to understand that they are bodily and spiritual beings, moral agents whose bodies must always be used to speak the language of truth, will we see the terrifyingly steep moral descent of America begin to flatten out. The more people who embrace the Church as the city of truth in Christ, a holy womb of love in which men are taught how to live and how to die, the more will society become aligned with the will of our loving God, who "works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).

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F. K. Bartels is a Catholic writer who knows his Catholic Faith is one of the greatest gifts a man could ever receive. He is a contributing writer for Catholic Online. Visit him also at joyintruth.com
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Pope Paul VI, Venerable, saints, canonization, Congregation for the Saints, Humanae Vitae, Pro-Life, Abortion, Contraception, the language of the body, catholic anthropology, the truth of the human person, artificial birth control, contraceptives, marital

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

DLL
5 months ago
Michael: these Popes have been a voice of reason in a time when much is simply unreasonable. We live in a world confirmed in sin,as the culture of death seems a path many walk in today. These Popes are unique to the times we live in. Even before I became a Catholic I knew that. Scandal can rock an institution like the Catholic Church but the Pope must stand firm as the Vicar of Christ. Popes Paul,John Paul 2,Benedict 16 certainly have. They have acted as a saint should,as defenders of the Faith. In truth canonized or not all Catholics goal is to be a saint. If we live our lives as Catholics and do not become Saints to a large degree we have missed the boat. The job of any good Pope is to pave the way to Sainthood and the Faithful are meant to follow along the clearly paved way.
michael
5 months ago
Yes, it must be admitted that Pope Paul VI, held strong on the natural law and Church teaching regarding marriage, the marital act, and regulation of births. But it is strange that we feel the need to declare him venerable or to pursue his beatification during the Year of Faith. Over the past 450 years, only one pope has been canonized, namely, Pope
St. Pius X. And yet, over the last decade alone we have seen the beatification of John XXIII and John Paul II, soon to be followed by Paul VI and even, I have heard, John Paul I. What is this fascination with beatifying so many connected with the Second Vatican Council? It's almost as if there is an agenda in place to verify this latest council by surrounding it with various beati!

It is sad that the canonization process seems to have become politicized, by enlarge. The Church ordinarily used to wait for at least a generation before moving on such a process allowing a generation to pass or more. The idea of a subito...immediate recognition...is supposed to be very, very rare so that enthusiasm does not cloud proper investigation. There is no longer the devil's advocate as part of the process. The number of miracles has been lessened with only one needed for beatification. And the miracles that they are using are not so obvious nor spectacular. Pope Paul VI's "miracle" is supposedly a baby cured in the womb. But such a claim is so difficult to actually observe. Many babies have been diagnosed in the womb with various difficulties and yet they have been born as healthy children. I must admit that I am very concerned about the "miracle" used to beatify Pope John Paul II since Parkinson's Disease is still so mysterious and difficult to diagnose or to claim a cure. What if that person ends up getting it again. It could prove to be a scandal.

It is time to slow down on these processes especially in the case of Pope Paul VI. Humanae Vitae was a good document that simply repeated what the Church has always taught. It was very late in coming and was not followed by proper catechesis. In fact, it was the last encyclical Paul VI wrote. He radically changed the Holy Mass and the Sacraments and rituals which Vatican II did not require nor desire. And as has been officially reported, Paul VI, while working under Pius XII and John XXIII did embrace the spirit of Ostpolitik reaching out to the Communists too much. Unfortunately, this led to the revealing of some names of Catholic priests in the USSR and Soviet bloc countries which caused their arrest and persecution.

Beatifications and especially canonizations are often a call of the People of God. Yet many, many, traditional Catholics would be utterly scandalized if such moves were made. John Paul II's beatification was not greeted well by traditional Catholics. His actions at Assisi '86 alone should have eliminated any hopes of his recognition. The amount of scandals under his pontificate as well, including the Vatican Bank and the horrors of the abuse scandals, especially his unwillingness to deal with the founder of the Legionaries of Christ are also factors that should have delayed any process. Finally, more Catholics have left the Church in the west in the pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II than any other age and all other ages combined. We have not seen a new springtime but a winter of unbelief.
DLL
5 months ago
This is the Pope that rocked the whole Church and brought it back to truth. He paved the way for John Paul 2 and Poe Benedict. The new evangelization has its formation because of the wonderful and unpopular Pope who was not afraid to tell the truth. It was not just what Catholics were supposed to believe,it was the truth. The misery of the day is that this Pope was ignored,dismissed by the culture of death. Pope Paul was a great humanitarian,a wonderful man of God.
Clinton
5 months ago
"...a fully human life of happiness." Yes! Just as Jesus Christ is fully Man -- Man in all his fullness -- we must follow His Way of obedience to the will of the Father in all things, including sexual practice, if we are to properly respond to the vocation to become fully human.

Thank you for a wonderful article, Mr. Bartels. A blessed Christmas to you!

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