Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae And The Need To Control Population Growth

With the earth's population growing by 95 million a year, the world is trudging towards overpopulation and may result into the rapid depletion of the planet's resources. This in turn may lead to widespread famine, global warming, acid rain, and other major ecological problems. 

(Global warming, acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer, vulnerability to epidemics, and exhaustion of soils and ground-water are all, as have been proven by numerous scientific studies, related to population size).

 

We have today, arrived at the crossroads of survival for a livable life over the entire world. One road leads to the continued depletion of resources, pollution and reduction of the ability to meet basic human needs. The other leads to an improved way of life where population sizes are in balance with the sustainable supply of resources. We need to realize and accept the fact that we have reached the point where our population is rapidly increasing while our basic natural resources are declining essentially because many of our renewable resources are being used faster than they can restore themselves. 


The concept of sustainable development subscribes to the principle of living within the carrying capacity of the environment. Unfortunately, as in the case of all less developed countries, sustainability is hardly possible since the birth rates in these countries far exceeds their GDP growth. There is therefore an urgency to implement population control programs specially in these less developed countries!

Artificial birth control, or the use of contraceptives, is the easiest way to address the population problem. Unfortunately, efforts to implement  any population control program that promotes the use of contraceptives is being met with stern disapproval from the catholic church. (In the Philippines, the newly installed president who is a staunch advocate of population control, was even threatened with ex-communication by some  catholic bishops for supporting the Reproductive Health Bill now pending in the Philippine Congress!)

At the center of the catholic church's unwavering stance against artificial birth control is the

Humanae Vitae (Latin for "Of Human Life")  - an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 25, 1968. Subtitled "On the Regulation of Birth", it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church regarding abortion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life. The encyclical totally banned all forms of contraceptives!

Although Pope Paul VI,  when he wrote this encyclical, did not invoke the doctrine of "Papal Infallibility" (the dogma in Roman Catholic theology that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals as being contained in divine revelation, or at least being intimately connected to divine revelation.), it was none-the-less embraced by the catholic bishops worldwide as if it was gospel truth believing the pope was preaching "ex-cathedra".  Thus, the encyclical was the subject of debates and controversies from then on up to the present!