Editing Pope Paul VI (section)

=====''Humanae vitae''=====
{{Main|Humanae vitae}}
[[File:Pape Paul VI – Vatican, 1968.jpg|thumb|242x242px|Paul VI in his office on 29 June 1968]]
Of his seven encyclicals, Pope Paul VI is best known for his encyclical ''Humanae vitae'' (''Of Human Life'', subtitled ''On the Regulation of Birth''), published on 25 July 1968, responding to the findings of the [[Pontifical Commission on Birth Control]], affirming the minority report. The encyclical reaffirmed the Catholic Church's prior condemnation of [[contraception|artificial birth control]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1968/Pope-Paul-VI/Garbage-Strike/12303153093431-7/|title=1968 Year in Review|publisher=[[United Press International]]|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-date=14 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914063442/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1968/Pope-Paul-VI/Garbage-Strike/12303153093431-7/|url-status=live}}</ref> The expressed views of Paul VI reflected the teachings of his predecessors, especially [[Pius XI]],<ref>Pius XI, encyc.letter Divini illius Magistri: AAS 22 (1930), 58–61; encyc. letter Casti connubii: AAS 22 (1930), 545–546</ref> [[Pius XII]]<ref>Discorsi e radiomessaggi di Pio XII, VI, 191–192; to Italian Association of Catholic Midwives: AAS 43 (1951), 835–854</ref> and [[Pope John XXIII|John XXIII]].<ref>John XXIII, encyc. letter ''Mater et magistra'': AAS 53 (1961), 457.</ref>

The encyclical teaches that marriage constitutes a union of the loving couple with a loving God, in which the two persons cooperate with God in the creation of a new person. For this reason, the encyclicals that the transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God.<ref name="Humanae vitae, 1">{{Citation|title=Humanae vitae|at=1}}</ref> This divine partnership, according to Paul VI, does not allow for arbitrary human decisions, which may limit divine providence. The Pope does not paint an overly romantic picture of marriage: marital relations are a source of great joy, but also of difficulties and hardships.<ref name="Humanae vitae, 1" /> The question of human procreation exceeds in the view of Paul VI specific disciplines such as [[biology]], [[psychology]], [[demography]] or [[sociology]].<ref>{{Citation|title=Humanae vitae|at=7}}</ref> The reason for this, according to Paul VI, is that married love takes its origin from God, who "is love". From this basic dignity, he defines his position:
{{blockquote |Love is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.<ref>{{Citation | title = Humanae vitae | at = 8–9}}.</ref>}}

The reaction to the continued prohibitions of artificial birth control was mixed. The encyclical was welcomed in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Poland.<ref>{{Citation | title = Herder Korrespondenz Orbis Catholicus | year = 1968}}.</ref> In Latin America, much support developed for the Pope and his encyclical. As [[World Bank]] president [[Robert McNamara]] declared at the 1968 [[Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group|Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group]] that countries permitting birth control practices would get preferential access to resources, doctors in [[La Paz]], Bolivia, called it insulting that money should be exchanged for the conscience of a Catholic nation. In Colombia, Cardinal Archbishop [[Aníbal Muñoz Duque]] declared, "If American conditionality undermines Papal teachings, we prefer not to receive one cent."<ref name="Herder 549">{{Citation|title=Herder Korrespondenz|publisher=Orbis Catholicus|place= Freiburg|year=1968|at=HK 1968 549}}</ref> The [[Chamber of Senators (Bolivia)|Senate of Bolivia]] passed a resolution stating that ''Humanae vitae'' could be discussed in its implications for individual consciences but was of greatest significance because the papal document defended the rights of developing nations to determine their own population policies.<ref name="Herder 549" /> The [[Jesuit]] journal ''Sic'' dedicated one edition to the encyclical with supportive contributions.<ref>{{Citation|title=Sic |volume=31|issue=308|date=October 1968|pages=359–79}}</ref>

Paul VI was concerned but not surprised by the adverse reaction in Western Europe and the United States. He fully anticipated this reaction to be a temporary one: "Don't be afraid," he reportedly told [[Edouard Gagnon]] on the eve of the encyclical, "in twenty years' time, they'll call me a prophet."<ref>{{Citation|title=National Catholic Reporter| date=26 August 1988|page=10}}</ref> His biography on the Vatican's website notes his reaffirmations of priestly celibacy and the traditional teaching on contraception that "[t]he controversies over these two pronouncements tended to overshadow the last years of his pontificate".<ref>{{Citation|publisher=Vatican|place=Rome, IT|contribution-url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/biography/documents/hf_p-vi_bio_16071997_biography_en.html|contribution=Biography|title=Pope Paul VI: 1963–1978|access-date=2 March 2006|archive-date=9 February 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209065234/http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/biography/documents/hf_p-vi_bio_16071997_biography_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Pope John Paul II]] later reaffirmed and expanded upon ''Humanae vitae'' with the encyclical ''[[Evangelium vitae]]''.