I love the history behind Humanae Vitae because it was an even bigger deal than the above makes it sound like. The pope commissioned a group of priests, religious and laypeople to look into the issue of contraception and advise the Pope with their conclusion. The majority opinion was that the Church SHOULD allow artificial birth control.
And THEN, those results were leaked to the press. People were FULLY expecting the Pope to permit use of the Pill. (Some believe the results were leaked precisely for that reason). So when Humanae Vitae came out strongly and unequivocally AGAINST it, people rioted.
Never mind the fact that the commission had a minority opinion that held that, not only shouldn’t the Pope allow it, but he COULDN’T, since it went contrary to natural law. Never mind that the commission was only there in an advisory role and the Pope wasn’t required to take any of their suggestions. People wanted birth control, and they’d been primed to expect that the Church would allow birth control. There was widespread and open rebellion from both laypeople and clergy. (Though, notably, not in Latin America, where the Pill had been tested and where women were pressured into contraception). The bishops of Canada released an official statement saying that birth control was a matter of conscience! This was absolutely a reason why people left the Church, and it’s notable that so many people who did stay in the Church completely ignored it. It was a flaunting of papal authority on a level that has few parallels in Church history.
One of the gutsiest players in all this drama was Karol Wojtyła. According to one John Paul II biography I paged through, he helped write the first draft of Humanae Vitae (of which it’s estimated about 60% of the material made it into the final document). He lived through the public outcry against the encyclical. He watched the stress of it all send Pope Paul VI into a decline. And less than a year after he becomes Pope John Paul II, what does he choose for the subject of his Wednesday addresses? Theology of the Body. 129 weeks of preaching to the open-air crowds in Rome, in intense and exhaustive detail, about why Humanae Vitae was 1000% right. Can you imagine? The nerve that requires?
The reaction against Humanae Vitae is horrible and sad and terrifying, but the history behind it is one amazing example of the Church and her shepherds standing stalwart to defend truth against the spirit of the age.
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