Don’t treat sex like a drug, Pope tells young people
By John Thavis
16 May 2008

Pope Benedict XVI has defended the Church's teaching against contraception and said its wisdom has become clearer in light of scientific discoveries and social trends.

The Pontiff said that in an age in which sexual activity can become like a drug, people need to be reminded that married love should always involve the whole person and be open to new life.

The Pope made his comments as the Church prepared to mark the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae. Issued by Pope Paul VI on July 25, 1968, it affirmed the Church's teaching on married love and said the use of contraception was morally wrong.

v It warned Catholics of the consequences of contraceptive use, including increased marital infidelity and family breakdown, and encouraged scientists to develop methods of regulating births that did not contravene the teaching of the Church. Some forms of natural family planning, such as the Billings Ovulation Method, are now recognised as being at least as reliable as the contraceptive pill.

Addressing participants of a Church-sponsored conference on Humanae Vitae Pope Benedict said the encyclical was a "gesture of courage".

Acknowledging that its teachings have been controversial and difficult for Catholics, he said the text expressed the true design of human procreation.

"What was true yesterday remains true also today," he said. "The truth expressed in Humanae Vitae does not change; in fact, in light of new scientific discoveries, its teaching is becoming more current and is provoking reflection."

He said the encyclical explained that married love is based on total self-giving between spouses, which goes far beyond fleeting pleasures. "How could such a love remain closed to the gift of life?" he added. The Pope said the Christian concept of marriage respects the unity of the person, in body and soul. The alternative, he said, is a culture that considers the body an object that can be bought or sold and in which "the exercise of sexuality is transformed into a drug" that wants to subject the partner to one's own desires and interests.

"As believers, we can never allow the dominion of the technical to invalidate the quality of love and the sacredness of life," he said, adding that this fundamental view of human life and procreation was something that goes back to the creation of man, and thus represents a paradigm for all generations.

It is a key part of natural law that deserves universal respect, he said. "The transmission of life is inscribed in nature and its laws remain as unwritten norms to which everyone should refer," he said. Any attempt to move away from this principle is destined to remain sterile and without a future, he said.

It should also be remembered that true love involves a sense of sacrifice, which is part of a married couple's openness to life, he added. "No mechanical technique can substitute the act of love that two spouses exchange as a sign of a greater mystery, in which they are protagonists and co-participants in creation," he said.

The Pope said he was concerned that adolescents are not receiving the kind of sexual formation they need in order to make proper decisions and avoid the "risky implications" of their behaviour. He said it does no honour to free and democratic societies when they offer their young people "false illusions" about their own sexuality. Freedom must be tied to truth and responsibility, he said.

"The teaching expressed in Humanae Vitae is not easy. However, it conforms to the fundamental structure through which life has always been transmitted from the creation of the world, in the respect of nature and in conformity with its demands," he said.