Humanae Vitae was the most controversial of seven encyclicals published
Pope Paul VI.
Pope Paul VI issued the Humanae Vitae
The uncompromising position on birth control in the 1968 encyclical led
protests around the Catholic world.
It came as a surprise because the Church was becoming
more liberal since the historic Vatican II council.
It had for example, taken the radical step of ending the use of Latin as the
language for celebrating Mass - allowing priests to address the
in their mother tongues for the first time.
However Pope Paul VI refused to budge an inch on the issue of birth
even though he lived through the era of the pill and there was strong
support in the Vatican for sweeping changes.
At the time, many members of the Pontifical Commission, had argued it
time for the Church to face the realities of the modern world.
They said that with the increasing emancipation of women and the
introduction of safe contraceptives the time had come for the Church to
change its position.
However, a minority disagreed and published their own report advocating
Church policy remain unaltered.
The encyclical was reaffirmed by Pope John Paul II
One of those who helped with the consultation on the document was the
newly appointed Cardinal Karol Wojtyla - later to become Pope John
But it was the minority who won the battle, and Humanae Vitae was
adopted by the Catholic Church in 1968, after a lengthy deliberation by
It was also the last encyclical that Pope Paul VI ever issued.
The rule has stood ever since, with no sign of change from the Vatican.
fact in 1995 Pope John Paul II reaffirmed support for Pope Paul's view
His views in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae: the Gospel of Life,
the principles in the original Humanae Vitae document.