Echoes of Humanae Vitae

Now that divorce has been accepted as a normal fact of life and is found on the statute books of practically all countries with very few exceptions, Malta being one of them, the attention has now turned on homosexuals.

Time was, until very recently, when people known to be homosexuals were shunned even more than those who were infected with the plague. Which of course was less than fair, considering that most homosexuals are born like that and are therefore not to blame for not being 'normal'. Luckily, such attitudes are changing and gays by and large are now no longer frowned on or, worse still, ostracised.

This is as it should be. However, we have now reached a stage where homosexuals are insisting on being given the same rights and recognition as heterosexuals with regard to marriage, family and the upbringing of children.

This is something which the Church can never approve. The Church, as the sole interpreter of God's plans as revealed in the Bible and expounded by Christ himself, holds that marriage has meant from the very beginning the union of man and woman with the main aim being the procreation of children.

Unfortunately man, in his arrogance, has deemed it fit to change the plans laid down by the Creator and confirmed by His Son, and decided that marriage is not necessarily for life and that the knot can be severed at the couple's discretion.

Man has also aribitrarily decided that marriage is not primarily meant for procreation and that husband and wife have every right to take measures to ensure that the marriage act does not lead to conception. Hence the various methods of birth control adopted worldwide, including abortion.

Ironically this seems to have a connection with the change of mentality with regard to same sex marriage. In a recently published collection of essays (Theology of Sexuality, 2002) the author, Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams, argues that if there is no necessary link between the sex-ual act and procreation it is impossible to condemn homosexuality. In his view a Church which accepts contraception as perfectly legitimate has no real grounds for opposing same-sex marriages.

Probably without kowning, Dr Williams has confirmed how justified Paul VI was when he issued Humanae Vitae 35 years ago. As readers may recall, the encyclical, which insisted that the marriage act should be open to procreation, met with strong opposition not only from outside the Church but also from within.

The encyclical stated unequivocally that any action "which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation, whether as an end or as means," is excluded.

As pointed out in a recent edition of The Catholic Herald: "In a paradoxical way, Rowan Williams proves Paul VI's point when he says that a church which accepts the legitimacy of contraception cannot logically ban homosexuality.

"No matter what struggles and quarrels we may have with Humanae Vitae we must admit that it was a clear and courageous pronouncement. Paul VI refused to change the Church's teaching because he saw where it would lead."