An old adage says that the Catholic Church’s teachings are unfashionable when first proclaimed but are later confirmed in their truthfulness and long-sightedness.

When the soon-to-be canonised Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae was promulgated 50 years ago, it was met by vociferous criticism even from within some Church circles. Now, many decades later, we realise how prophetic it all was. The use of artificial contraception has led to widespread promiscuity, especially among the young, a massive increase in unplanned pregnancies, abortion and a big rise in the number of sexually-transmitted diseases.

When the first IVF law was on the cards, our bishops issued a pastoral letter that also referred to official Church teachings about the matter. It emphasised what important Church documents such as Donum Vitae had said about in vitro fertilisation techniques, stating that such procedures, whether involving solely the married couple or worse, outside donors, are morally unacceptable. Church doctrine, unlike what some Catholics are saying, has not changed.

There are, unfortunately, people, even well-meaning ones, who believed that approving such a law would somehow ‘appease’ those intent on passing legislation which is in direct conflict with God’s eternal laws but some of whom in reality were intent on going further. The same happened regarding civil unions, which many thought would satisfy the demands of those same-sex couples seeking some sort of legal recognition. It was not to be and now we have same-sex marriage with the possibility of adoption.

It is truly the case of recalling the Lord’s words that “the sons of darkness are wiser in their generation than the sons of light”.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.