Tag Archives: Humanae Vitae

On Ex Cathedra Statements

When Our Lord promised to Peter the power of “binding and loosing” (Mt 16:19), he was giving to Peter and his successors, the protection of infallibility.  This prooftext is well-known by Catholics.  What appears to be not as well known is exactly how often this charism has been invoked by the Popes.  There is a widely-held belief that it has only been twice—Pope Pius IX in 1854 (Immaculate Conception) and Pope Pius XII in 1950 (Assumption of Mary).  Given our great need for certainty in this age of ambiguity, it is fortunate that it has been wielded far more often than that.

What is Infallibility and How Is It Exercised?

Although the First Vatican Council was interrupted when Rome came under occupation, the Fathers of the Council did declare among other dogmas the infallibility of the Pope (Pastor Aeternus, 4):

“Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God Our Savior, the exaltation of the Catholic Religion, and the salvation of Christian people, the Sacred Council approving, We teach and define that it is a divinely-revealed dogma: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex Cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals: and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church.”

Notice that the solemn declaration not only formally recognizes infallibility as being divinely revealed dogma, but also outlines the conditions for its exercise.  First, the Pope must be acting “in discharge of his office as Pastor and Teach of all Christians.”  Second, he must be teaching specifically “regarding faith and morals.”  Finally, he must be defining the doctrine to be “irreformable” or as Vatican II puts it, “by a definitive act” (LG 25).

Two other things are worth mentioning because they often cause confusion.  First, it should be noted that nowhere does it say he must intend to speak ex cathedra.  All that is necessary is that he intends to speak definitively about a particular subject.  Second, there are no infallible documents.  There are only infallible statements contained in certain documents.  The question as to whether a document like Humanae Vitae is infallible is the wrong way to look at it.  The question would be whether specific statements within it are infallible.

With these three conditions in mind, it is clear that there are far more ex cathedra statements than the two previously mentioned.  As an example, we do not need to look too long after the Council to find a clear case of an ex cathedra statement in Pope Leo XIII’s 1893 Encyclical on sacred Scripture, Providentissimus Deus (#20).

“To Our Venerable Brethren, All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World, in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See… But it is absolutely wrong and forbidden, either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture, or to admit that the sacred writer has erred. For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of these difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, because (as they wrongly think) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage, we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind in saying it-this system cannot be tolerated. For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true.”

The Holy Father is exercising his role as universal teacher, is teaching on faith and morals and defines it to be “absolutely wrong and forbidden” (a definitive statement).  Therefore, he is infallibly declaring that the doctrine of limited inerrancy of Scripture is wrong.  Given how often Catholics subscribe to limited inerrancy, it is clear that few know this to be an infallible declaration.

A Controversial Example

A second example, which has already been mentioned, is found in Pope St. Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae(#14). In it, the Pope says:

“Therefore, We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary.”

Again we find the three conditions fulfilled.  The Pope is clearly exercising his office as universal pastor and teacher and is proclaiming “a teaching which is based on natural law as illuminated and enriched by divine revelation.”  He directly declares that any contraceptive act or temporary or permanent sterilization as “absolutely excluded as lawful.  This is a definitive statement that admits of no exception.  Therefore the Pope is exercising his power to teach ex cathedra.

Once we learn how to apply the three criteria for ex cathedra statements, we readily find that there are far more than the two Marian dogmas and the two examples I mentioned.  Naturally we might want a complete list of them.  Setting aside whether it would be even be possible for the Church to publish a complete list, there is a list of examples found in a CDF commentary on the Oath of Fidelity, Professio Fidei (#11).  In addition to the two Marian dogmas everyone knows and the inerrancy of Scripture listed above, it also lists three other examples:  Benedictus Deus (1336) on the immortality of the spiritual soul and its immediate recompense after death; IApostolicae Curae (1896) on the invalidity of Anglican orders; and Evangelium Vitae (1995) on the grave immorality of murder.

These are meant to be, according to the document, just examples and by no means should be interpreted as exhaustive.  In any regard, it is clear that there are far more than two cases in which the Pope has spoken ex cathedra.

Power Play

As the Church marks the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, much has been said regarding the prophetic character of Blessed Paul VI’s controversial encyclical.  In particular, the Pope predicted that four things would happen as contraceptive use spread throughout a society.  There would be an increase in marital infidelity, a general lowering of moral standards, a loss of reverence for woman as she is reduced to an instrument for the satisfaction of a man’s desires and governments would use coercive power to implement “family planning” policies.  In reading the signs of the times, the Pope saw the consequences clearly, but why he was so easily able to see this is just important.  For these consequences were just symptoms of a deeper mindset that the Holy Father feared would ultimately conquer the hearts and minds of men, a mindset that was just as soul-killing as the contraceptive mentality to which it was linked.  After uttering his prophecy of consequences, the Holy Father tells us the root cause is man’s unwillingness to “accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go” (HV , 17).

On the one hand this is nothing new.  One can even say that Original Sin itself is the mark of man’s unwillingness to accept his creaturely limits.  Man in his Edenic bliss can eat from every tree in the Garden, save one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (GN 2:16-17).  Made in the likeness of God, he is confronted with the choice to be “like gods who know good and evil” (Gn 3:5).  That is, he has a choice between conforming himself to the limits of reality, or shaping reality to his liking.  He quickly finds out that his decision was never a real option.  He passes his confusion on to his progeny along with a proclivity for choosing likewise.

Confusing Limits

Because man is now in a state of confusion, he must set out to discover reality as it really is.  To enter into a relationship with reality he must also (re-)discover himself as he really is (including his limits) as well.  At first, because of his confusion reality appears rock solid and he discovers many limitations in himself.  But as the field of discovery expands, he finds that he has the power to manipulate reality more and more.  His limitations become blurred except when he asks a simple question: does this new power over reality include power over myself?  If so, then it is actually a power within reality, which is the only true power.  Otherwise it is a grasping and remaking of reality.

In many ways chemical contraception represents a paramount example of this principle in play.  In the past contraception usually involved changing the act, but with the Pill and the like came the power to alter the reality of a woman’s reproductive system.  But this is no mere biological alteration, but an alteration to a person’s biology.  Therefore it has to be viewed through a personalistic lens.  Does the power the Pill gives over a woman’s cycle carry with it the power of the woman to master herself?  And, because a woman’s reproductive system is a relational system, does the Pill give the man in whom she enters into a reproductive relationship with a power to master himself?

Power

The wisdom of Blessed Paul VI’s condemnation of contraception begins to emerge, especially when we add a second principle.  With the emergence of new technology comes new power over reality.  This power is given at the service of controlling men.  The question is which men will be controlled.  Will the new power be used to control man himself?  Or will the power be used to control other men?  Or as CS Lewis put it in The Abolition of Man “For the power of Man to make himself what he pleases means…the power of some men to make other men what they please.”

Blessed Paul VI was so accurate in his predictions because he knew that the Pill wasn’t really a medicine to control births, but a poison to control other people.  His forecasts are really about the power of one person over another.  More to the point, the Pill is about men exercising their power over women.  It tells women in order to gain her rightful share in society she must act like one of the big boys.  But because woman is a “misbegotten male” she must take a pill to do this.  But in truth it is a ploy in which man, who is fertile all the time, can find partners who are infertile all the time.  It absolves him of all responsibility and creates an injustice in which women are treated as inferiors.  What is so puzzling is that many of them, in the name of equality, swallow the pill anyway.  Shouldn’t society have to change and adapt to the feminine genius and not woman herself?  As then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (the future St. John Paul II) said ,

“Contraception makes no contribution to the woman’s personal rights.  Since it is a process that makes it possible to satisfy the ‘needs of the sexual instinct’ without taking on any of the responsibility for the consequences of sexual activity, it primarily benefits the man.  This is why, once accepted contraception leads to sanctioning his erotic hedonist behavior.  In this situation, inevitably, the man benefits at the expense of the woman.  He ceases to regard the woman in the context of transmitting life.  She becomes for him simply the occasion for enjoying pleasure.  If one adds to this the fact that it is inscribed in the very structure of man to take initiative in the sexual realm and that the danger of being violated is a threat primarily to the woman, then one must admit that the more constitution of the woman appears grim indeed.  Therefore, when contraception is used, the woman faces not only inequality but also sexual slavery.”

In his opening paragraph of Humanae Vitae, Blessed Paul VI recognized that technology, especially reproductive technologies, were a force that the Church was going to need to confront.  Unfortunately she has not been up to the task and many women have suffered because of it.  As the Church continues to celebrate this Golden Anniversary of Humane Vitae, let’s work towards a rediscovery of the golden wisdom contained within this prophetic document.