Humanae Vitae

Cornerstone of the Culture of Life

Humanae Vitae

As John Paul II reminds us, what Humanae Vitae teaches—that sexuality worthy of human partners is at once unitive and procreative—demands "the complete acceptance of the other." From this teaching parents learn "openness to the richness of life that the child represents," nurturing families in God's cult of life so that they may celebrate it amid a culture overshadowed by death (Evangelium Vitae 23.3).

From this teaching, from this cornerstone, flows, like water from the rock at Horeb, the studied and unqualified affirmation of other human beings as God's gift. This affirmation brings life to the desert, binds one to another in solidarity, and gives social justice its justification; it is charity: the very substance of a civilization of love.

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To build a culture of life, start with love.

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