Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

trivialize the serious problem of 'responsible parenthood'. The Second Vatican Council assured
married couples in an understanding way that it is aware of their needs and difficulties.
„Certain modern conditions often keep couples from arranging their married lives harmoniously;
they find themselves in circumstances where at least temporarily the size of their families
should not be increased.“ On the question of the number of children, the Council remarks:
„The parents themselves should ultimately make this judgment, in the sight of God.“ In doing
so, of course, they may not „proceed arbitrarily; they must always be governed according to a
conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the
Church's teaching office, which authentically interprets that law in the light of the gospel.“
The married couple should be aware that „a true contradiction cannot exist between the divine
laws pertaining to the transmission of life and those pertaining to the fostering of authentic
conjugal love“ (Gaudium et spes, 50-51). The Council forewent „proposing concrete solutions“
concerning particular methods of birth control. It did add, however, that „sons of the
Church may not undertake methods of regulating procreation which are found blameworthy
by the teaching authority of the Church in its unfolding of the divine law“ (Gaudium et spes,
51). The conjugal gift, Pope Paul VI teaches, must remain open for the transmission of life,
which does not mean that it is forbidden to the married couple „for grave motives and with
due respect for the moral law, to avoid for the time being, or even for an intermediate period,
a new birth.“ 51 Pope John Paul II also adjures spouses not to tear apart arbitrarily the two
meanings of the conjugal gift, i.e. loving union and the awakening of new life. For then „they
act as 'arbiters' of the divine plan and they 'manipulate' and degrade human sexuality - and
with it themselves and their married partner - by altering its value of 'total' self-giving, which
leads to an „objectively contradictory language.“
The Pope exhorts pastors to come to a „unity of moral and pastoral judgments“ and professors
to a „unified effort by theologians in this regard, inspired by a convinced adherence to the
Magisterium, which is the one authentic guide of the People of God.“ The Pope continues:
„When, instead, by means of recourse to periods of infertility, the couple respect the inseparable
connection between the unitive and procreative meanings of human sexuality, they are
acting as 'ministers' of God's plan and they 'benefit from' their sexuality according to the
original dynamism of 'total' self-giving, without manipulation or alteration.“ 52 The popes are
standing up for the protection of the dignity of man which is threatened today in a terrible way
by ideological, journalistic, pedagogical, chemical, and medical forms of manipulation. At
bottom, the 'anti-baby' pill is a form of manipulation whose consequences for the corning
generation no scientist is able to foretell with certainty. It should also alarm us that manipulation,
of which there was hardly any talk at the time the encyclical Humanae vitae was published
(1968), has spread in recent discussions to sterilization, abortion, and the killing of invalids.
§ 8 Marriage as a Contract
I. „Each individual marriage“, it says in the encyclical Casti connubii, „in as much as it is a
conjugal union of a particular man and woman, arises only from the free consent of each of
the spouses.“ The only question in this union of wills, which „cannot be supplied by any human
power,“ is „whether the contracting parties really wish to enter upon matrimony or to
marry this particular person.“ On the other hand, the essential form of marriage is „entirely
independent“ of the arbitrariness of the married couple (n. 6). Whereas other contracts are
51 Humanae vitae, of July 25, 1968, n 10. Cf the Wort der deutschen Bischofe zur seelsorglichen Lage nach dem
Erscheinen der Enzyklika Humanae Vitae, of August 8, 1968; Joseph Höffner, Zur Würdigung der Enzyklika
'Humanae Vitae' in Reden und Aufsätze, 11:280-293.
52 Familiaris consortio, 31-34.
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