"Is Evolution an Open Question for Catholics?"
Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation
Discussions dragged on for five years, and during that time the dissenters were busy spreading the word that Rome would change the teaching on birth control. By the time Humanae Vitae was at last issued in 1968, tremendous damage had been done. Huge numbers embraced contraception over those five years and few had enough conviction of their beliefs as Catholics to again oppose it; they wanted the convenience of birth control and their Catholic consciousness had been changed.
In the final analysis, 64 out of 68 members of that Commission came down in favour of changing the Church’s teaching on birth control; something which the Pope could never do. Sooner or later when the full picture is clearer about a controversial matter, the Pope of the day is bound to defend Tradition and to reject reasoning which is found to be in opposition to doctrine, and Paul VI reached the only decision open to him as the Vicar of Christ on Earth. (Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, later to become Pope John Paul II, was a member of the Commission but was prevented from leaving Poland by the Communist government. He was thus unable to join up with the other four Commission members who urged Paul VI to uphold the Traditional teaching against birth control.)
The uncertainty concerning contraception in the years leading up to Humanae Vitae was documented in a very moving testimony by a German doctor of medicine, Dr. Alfred Haussler, who fought in vain to stop legalised abortion from being introduced into West Germany. Writing in The Betrayal of the Theologians (HLI, Oct 30, 1982) he stated that,
Paul VI had to deal with the problems of contraception, especially those precipitated by the Pill, under instructions from the Council. He conscientiously studied all the research results in the literature and consulted many specialists throughout the world. A commission of theologians appointed by the Pope could not reach an agreement and formulated a controversial “majority” opinion, since at the time the effects of the so-called ovulation inhibitor were not adequately known. The Pope’s medical advisers urged him to exercise the greatest caution and restraint and to reject the recommendation for the Pill.