Editing Humanae vitae (section)

==History==

===Origins===
{{See also|Christian views on contraception}}
There had been a long-standing general Christian prohibition on contraception and abortion, with such [[Church Father]]s as [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] condemning the practices.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} It was not until the 1930 [[Lambeth Conference]] that the [[Anglican Communion]] allowed for contraception in limited circumstances. [[Mainline (Protestant)|Mainline]] [[Protestant]] denominations have since removed prohibitions against artificial contraception.<ref name="flann">{{cite journal|author=Campbell, Flann|title=Birth Control and the Christian Churches|journal=Population Studies|date=November 1960|volume=14|issue=2|pages=131–147|doi=10.2307/2172010|jstor=2172010}}</ref> In a partial reaction, [[Pope Pius XI]] wrote the encyclical {{lang|la|[[Casti connubii]]}} (''On Christian Marriage'') in 1930, reaffirming the Catholic Church's belief in various traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality, including the prohibition of artificial birth control even within marriage. {{lang|la|Casti connubii}} is against [[contraception]] and regarding [[natural family planning]] allowed married couples to use their nuptial rights "in the proper manner" when because of either time or defects, new life could not be brought forth.<ref name=HV/>

===The commission of John XXIII===
{{Main|Pontifical Commission on Birth Control}}
With the appearance of the [[Combined oral contraceptive pill|first oral contraceptives]] in 1960, dissenters in the Church argued for a reconsideration of the Church positions. In 1963 [[Pope John XXIII]] established a commission of six European non-theologians to study questions of birth control and population.<ref name=shannon>{{cite book|last=Shannon|first=William Henry|title=The lively debate: response to Humanae vitae|year=1970|publisher=Sheed & Ward|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8362-0374-5|pages=76–104|chapter=VII. The Papal Commission on Birth Control}}</ref><ref name=mcclory>{{cite book|last=McClory|first=Robert|title=Turning point: the inside story of the Papal Birth Control Commission, and how Humanae Vitae changed the life of Patty Crowley and the future of the church|year=1995|publisher=Crossroad|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8245-1458-7|url=https://archive.org/details/turningpointinsi0000mccl}}</ref> It met once in 1963 and twice in 1964. As Vatican Council II was concluding, Pope Paul VI enlarged it to fifty-eight members, including married couples, laywomen, theologians and bishops. The last document issued by the council ({{lang|la|[[Gaudium et spes]]}}) contained a section titled "Fostering the Nobility of Marriage" (1965, nos. 47–52), which discussed marriage from the [[Personalism#Catholic personalism|personalist]] point of view. The "duty of responsible parenthood" was affirmed, but the determination of licit and illicit forms of regulating birth was reserved to Pope Paul VI. In the spring of 1966, following the close of the council, the commission held its fifth and final meeting, having been enlarged again to include sixteen bishops as an executive committee. The commission was only consultative but it submitted a report approved by a majority of 64 members to Paul VI. It proposed the approval of artificial contraception without distinction of the various means. A minority of four members opposed this report and issued a parallel report to the Pope.<ref>[{{cite book | last = Rausch | first = Thomas P.  | title = Catholicism in the Third Millennium | publisher = [[Liturgical Press]] | edition = second | location = Collegeville, MN | date = 2003 | page = 148 | isbn = 978-0-8146-5899-4}}]</ref> Arguments in the minority report, against change in the church's teaching, were that a loosening of contraception restrictions would mean the Catholic Church would "have to concede frankly that the Holy Spirit had been on the side of the Protestant churches in 1930" (when {{lang|la|[[Casti connubii]]}} was promulgated), and that "it should likewise have to be admitted that for a half a century the Spirit failed to protect Pius XI, Pius XII, and a large part of the Catholic hierarchy from a very serious error."<ref>Hasler, A.B. ''How the Pope Became Infallible; Pius IX and the Politics of Persuasion''. Doubleday, 1981, p.170. {{ISBN|0-385-15851-3}}</ref>

After two more years of study and consultation, the pope issued {{lang|la|Humanae vitae}}, which removed any doubt that the Church views hormonal anti-ovulants as contraceptive. He explained why he did not accept the opinion of the majority report of the commission (1968, #6).<ref>''Health Care Ethics A Catholic Theological Analysis, Fifth Edition'', Georgetown University Press: 2005; {{ISBN|978-1-58901-116-8}}</ref> Arguments were raised in the decades that followed that his decision has never passed the condition of "reception" to become church doctrine.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Theological Studies|pages=221–57|url=http://cdn.theologicalstudies.net/39/39.2/39.2.1.pdf|title=Humanae Vitae and Its Reception|last=Komonchak|first=Joseph A.|access-date=19 February 2017|archive-date=20 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220094108/http://cdn.theologicalstudies.net/39/39.2/39.2.1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arcc-catholic-rights.net/doctrine_of_reception.htm| title=Doctrine of Reception| website=www.arcc-catholic-rights.net|access-date=20 February 2017}}</ref>

===Drafting of the encyclical===
In his role as [[Theologian of the Pontifical Household]], [[Mario Luigi Ciappi]] advised [[Pope Paul VI]] during the drafting of {{lang|la|Humanae vitae}}. Ciappi, a doctoral graduate of the {{lang|la|Pontificium Athenaeum Internationale Angelicum}}, the future [[Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas]], {{lang|la|Angelicum}}, served as professor of dogmatic theology there and was Dean of the {{lang|la|Angelicum}}'s Faculty of Theology from 1935 to 1955.

According to [[George Weigel]], Paul VI named Archbishop [[Karol Wojtyła]] (later Pope John Paul II) to the commission, but Polish government authorities would not permit him to travel to [[Rome]]. Wojtyła had earlier defended the church's position from a philosophical standpoint in his 1960 book ''[[Love and Responsibility]]''. Wojtyła's position was strongly considered and it was reflected in the final draft of the encyclical, although much of his language and arguments were not incorporated. Weigel attributes much of the poor reception of the encyclical to the omission of many of Wojtyła's arguments.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weigel|first=George|title=Witness to Hope|publisher=HarperCollins|orig-year=1999|year=2001|isbn=978-0-06-018793-4|quote=The encyclical was not drafted precisely as Wojtyla proposed.|url=https://archive.org/details/witnesstohopebio00weig}}</ref>

In 2017, anticipating the 50th anniversary of the encyclical, four theologians led by Mgr. Gilfredo Marengo, a professor of theological anthropology at the [[Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family]], launched a research project he called "a work of historical-critical investigation without any aim other than reconstructing as well as possible the whole process of composing the encyclical". Using the resources of the Vatican Secret Archives and the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]], they hope to detail the writing process and the interaction between the commission, publicity surrounding the commission's work, and Paul's own authorship.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wooden|first1=Cindy|title=Theologians studying development of Humanae Vitae given access to Vatican Secret Archives|url=http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/07/27/theologians-studying-development-of-humanae-vitae-given-access-to-vatican-secret-archives/|access-date=27 July 2017|work=Vatholic Herals|date=27 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=San Martín|first1=Inés|title=No, Virginia, there's no 'secret commission' on Humanae Vitae|url=https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2017/07/27/no-virginia-theres-no-secret-commission-humanae-vitae/|access-date=27 July 2017|work=CRUX|date=27 July 2017|archive-date=27 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727080835/https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2017/07/27/no-virginia-theres-no-secret-commission-humanae-vitae/|url-status=dead}}</ref>