The Theologian of “Humanae Vitae”

THE THEOLOGIAN OF "HUMANAE VITAE" I THE SEARCH FOR a papal " ghostwriter" should never be construed as an attempt to undercut the authority of the pope for whom a theologian wrote. Humanae Vitae is the work of Pope Paul VI. It was his original decision that an authoritative pronouncement of the Church teaching would be made. It was in virtue of his power and authority that the birth control commission was first charged with, and later augmented in membership for the task of, advising him in this matter. He it was who took the question out of the competency of the Second Vatican Council and reserved it to himself. He it was who passed judgment on the Commission's work, rejected it and then sought other counsel. The decision and teaching embodied in Humanae Vitae are Pope Paul's. However, these facts should never be so affirmed as to deny the legitimate agency of other people in the achievement of this encyclical and its teaching. And this is where the significance of Gustave Martelet enters in. The teaching of Humanae Vitae was first made public on Monday, July Q9th, 1968. Two days later, at a weekly general audience Pope Paul took a rather personal tone and spoke to those present about some of his feelings during the long time of the encyclical's preparation. But he stopped short of commenting on the encyclical itself: We will not speak to you now about this document, partly because the seriousness and delicacy of the subject seem to transcend the ordinary simplicity of this weekly talk, and partly because there are already and will be more publications on the encyclical available to those interested in the subject.1 1 Paul VI, "Address to a generd audience, July 81, 1968," English translation in The Pope Speaks 13 (1968) 206; cf. Acta Apostolicae Sedis 60 (1968) 527-580: "Le Nostre parole." 464 THE THEOLOGIAN OF " HUMANAE VITAE " 465 In the text of this speech as it is recorded in theActaApostolicae Sedis,. there is a footnote at this point offering for example Gustave Martelet's Amour eonjugal et renouveau coneiliaire. No other work or author is mentioned. No further information as to date or place of publication is given regarding the one work cited. Nevertheless this reference is easily identifiable as the small, 47-page monograph which the printer Xavier Mappus of Lyon published for Gustave Martelet in 1967. Here is an essay that was written at least a year before the encyclical now being cited as an aid to anyone trying to understand the papal teaching! A Spanish theologian surveying the literature on Humanae Vitae did not hesitate to draw out for his readers the fullest implications: When Paul VI ... referred to the works that treated this, explicitly citing only one work, that of Martelet, he gave to the clear and comprehensive exposition of this essay the most authoritative praise possible.2 Logic can only proceed to ask, when the pope said there " will be more publications on the encyclical," was this not a reference to Martelet's apologetical works that appeared so soon after the encyclical's presentation to the public? 8 Indeed, there had been 2 Manuel Cuyas, "En torno a la Humanae Vitae," in Selecciones de Libros. Actualidad Bibliografica de filosofia y teologia (June, December 1969), p. 43: " Cuando Pablo VI . . . se remiti6 a las obras que lo trataban exprofeso citando explicitamente una sola obra, la del P. Martelet, hizo de la diafana y compendiosa exposici6n de este opusculo la mas autorizada alabanza que cabia." 3 Martelet's apologetic on behalf of Humanae Vitae can be considered to have begun with his announcement and presentation of the encyclical at a press conference in Paris's National Bureau of Public Opinion on Monday morning, July 29th, 1968. (V. La Croix, Tuesday, July 30, 1968, "Apres la publication de l'encyclique, Le P. Martelet: Un appel a l'authenticite integrale de l'homme.") Though the papal document was dated July 25th, 1968, its general publication did not occur until the 29th of July when carefully planned press conferences similar to the one in Paris occurred throughout the world. In order that the encyclical and...