8.166. Didn’t Paul VI heroically defend Catholic teaching in Humanae Vitae against contraception? Why is that controversial?
On July 25, 1973, at a general audience marking the 5th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Paul VI made a startling admission:
“Humanae Vitae was prophetic, yet today it is no longer understood, or even welcomed, because it is a word of life which strikes at the heart of our alterable mores.”
While this may sound like humble realism, it is actually a scandalous betrayal of the office he claimed to hold. As “pope,” Paul VI recognized that the Church’s moral teaching—especially on contraception—was being rejected en masse, yet he did nothing to discipline, silence, or correct the rebellion. He allowed theologians, bishops, and priests to openly dissent, while ordinary Catholics were left confused and misled.
Instead of condemning error and protecting souls, Paul VI presided over the collapse of Catholic moral authority. His admission that Humanae Vitae was “no longer welcomed” is not a badge of honor—it is a confession of defeat. It reveals the failure of Vatican II’s new, “pastoral” Church to act like the Church of Christ, which is supposed to teach with authority, not lament its powerlessness.
Even worse, Paul VI himself helped lay the groundwork for this rejection. By promoting Vatican II’s ambiguous language, false religious liberty, dialogue over doctrine, and anthropocentric theology, he contributed to a climate in which moral teaching was seen as optional, and personal conscience took precedence over objective truth.
| Category | Traditional Catholic Teaching | Paul VI / Vatican II Practice | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contraception | Gravely sinful; always condemned | Reaffirmed in theory (*Humanae Vitae*), but widely ignored | Failure to enforce teaching rendered it ineffective in practice |
| Reaction to Dissent | Dissent condemned and silenced; heretics excommunicated | Dissent tolerated; theologians freely opposed Church teaching | Encouraged a culture of rebellion within the Church |
| Magisterial Authority | Clear, firm, enforced by penalties | Passive, apologetic, rarely defended publicly | Undermined the very authority Paul VI claimed to represent |
| View of the World | The world must conform to Christ | The Church must adapt to the world’s “alterable mores” | Reversed the divine mission of the Church |
| Pastoral Approach | Direct, unapologetic proclamation of moral truth | Ambiguous, dialogical, passive response to crisis | “Prophetic” words without prophetic action are hollow |
| Fruits | Large families, reverence for marriage, moral clarity | Contraception normalized, divorce rising, vocations collapsing | “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matt. 7:16) |
Summary:
While Humanae Vitae did reaffirm the immorality of contraception, Paul VI’s admission that its teaching was “no longer welcomed” is not a sign of courage—it is a sign of pastoral cowardice and moral surrender. He watched the Faith be dismantled, yet chose not to act decisively, invoking “dialogue” while millions were led astray.
This is a recurring theme in the Vatican II church: truth is acknowledged on paper, but denied in practice through inaction, ambiguity, and false mercy. Paul VI’s refusal to condemn heretics, discipline bishops, or proclaim the truth forcefully reveals that he did not act as a true Vicar of Christ, but as a weak administrator of a collapsing human institution.
True popes do not lament the rejection of truth—they defend it boldly, suffer for it, and if necessary, shed their blood for it. Anything less is not apostolic; it is modernist betrayal.