An Introduction to Lamentations

Prof. Emerita Adele Berlin

Photo: SAIMI edited

Lamentations, or Echah, in Hebrew, is read liturgically, to a special “trope” or chanting melody, on

Tish‛ah Be’av, the Ninth of Av, the day of public mourning and fasting that commemorates the
destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and of the Second Temple in 70 CE, and around which the
commemoration of other Jewish destructions and catastrophes has coalesced. As part of the rites of
mourning on this day, the reader and congregation sit on the floor or on low benches when
Lamentations is recited by candlelight or dim light, during the evening service (and in some places
also during the morning service).

The Talmud refers to Lamentations as “Qinot,” meaning “Elegies” or “Laments.” Ancient tradition (b.
Baba Batra 15a) ascribes the book’s authorship to Jeremiah, who lived at the time of the Babylonian
destruction and predicted it. Jeremiah is credited with composing laments already in 2 Chr 35.25, and
the book of Jeremiah and Echah share some phrases.

Modern scholars, however, believe that most ancient works were written anonymously and only later
attributed to well-known figures; in this case, Chronicles’ ascription of laments to Jeremiah, the
shared phraseology in Echah and Jeremiah, and the fact that Jeremiah lived in the appropriate time-
period likely led to the book’s ascription to him. According to modern scholars, the book was written
after 586 bce and before the end of the sixth century bce, when the Temple was rebuilt, but the exact
time, place, and reason for its composition are unknown. Some see it as an outpouring of raw
emotion, while others believe it had a liturgical role from its very beginning. Scholars also debate
whether the book was originally a unified composition, or whether five independent poems were
brought together to create the current book.

The book is comprised of five poems about the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem
that occurred in 586 bce. This was an unprecedented event that changed the course of Jewish history,
both politically—for Judah lost its independence—and religiously—for the Temple, the locus of
sacrificial worship, was destroyed. Three major institutions: the priesthood, Davidic kingship, and
prophecy were reshaped by the Temple’s destruction. Lamentations is an outpouring of mourning
and grief over this catastrophe, but even more, it is a commemoration, a memorialization, of that
event. It eternalizes the experience—the siege, the destruction, the exile—probing it from different
perspectives and preserving it with astonishing vividness and immediacy. Lamentations helps to
make the destruction a central event in the Jewish memory.

Ancient empires, especially Assyria and Babylonia, engaged in wars of conquest to expand their
territory and to increase their resources, and so it was that Babylonia attacked and defeated Judah. A
common tactic was siege warfare. Since cities were walled for protection, they could not be easily
defeated initially by a direct attack and were therefore besieged or blockaded until the population that
had taken refuge inside was decimated by starvation and disease. At the same time, the attackers
employed various technologies (ramps, battering rams, projectiles) to weaken the city walls.
Eventually, when resistance from within diminished, the walls could be scaled or breached by the
enemy. The people who survived the siege and the attack became captives of war, and many were
deported to the conquering empire. This is the historical reality underlying the poetic expression of
Lamentations.
Each of the five poems has its distinctive tone and theme, and offers a different perspective on the
catastrophic defeat. In Chapter 1 Jerusalem, the lonely and shamed city, grieves for her lost
inhabitants. Feminine imagery is especially prominent in this chapter, conveying the shameful and
the shamed woman, abandoned by her lovers (her supposed allies), emptied of all she holds dear,
mocked by passers-by, mourning and deprived of comfort. Chapter 2 depicts the siege of the city and
all the horror of starvation and disease that accompanied it. Chapter 3 speaks in the voice of a lone
man who experiences the deportation into exile. Chapter 4 portrays the degradation that has befallen
the population in the last days before destruction. Chapter 5, sounds like a prayer by those who
remained in Judah after the destruction, when it had become a Babylonian possession.

Chapters 1-4 are alphabetic acrostics, a literary device found elsewhere in the Bible (e.g., Pss. 111; 112;
145; Prov. 31.10-31), in which each verse begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
(Chapters 2, 3 and 4, however, have reversed the ‘ayin and peh, an order known from ancient
inscriptions ) Chapter 3 is a triple acrostic. Chapter 5, although not an acrostic, contains twenty-two
verses,replicating the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. In Lamentations this formal device
encapsulates the enormity or totality of the destruction (extending “from A to Z”). It also structures
the incomprehensible events and the amorphous pain that engulfed Judah and its inhabitants. The
alphabet helps to render order out of the chaos of destruction, to let the inexpressible be expressed.

The book’s language is highly poetic and extraordinarily moving. Even though often stereotypical, it
effectively portrays the violence and suffering of the events. The experiences of warfare, siege, famine,
and death are individualized, in a way that turns the natural into the unnatural or anti-natural—brave
men are reduced to begging, mothers are unable to nourish their children and resort to cannibalism.
The book’s outpouring is addressed to God, so that God may feel the suffering of his people, rescue
them, and restore them to their country and to their former relationship with him. The entire book
may be thought of as an appeal for God’s mercy. Yet God remains silent.

If the book fails to move God, it fulfills another function, that of public mourning which both relives,
commemorates, and attempts to understand a catastrophe of incomprehensible proportion.
Lamentations does not create a new theology. Like Jeremiah, it accepts the theological view that the
sin of disloyalty to God, that is, idolatry, leads to divine punishment and exile. God has brought about
the disaster; the Babylonians (never mentioned by name in the book) are merely divine agents,
although not altogether blameless. God, whose power is not diminished despite the Temple’s
destruction, is called upon to bring about the return from exile. Repentance, the antidote to sin, is
mentioned but is not central; rather, the idea in Lamentations is that the punishment, though
deserved, outweighs the sin (see similarly Isa. 40.2). The immediacy of the disproportionate
punishment drowns out everything else.

___________________

Professor Emerita Adele Berlin was the Robert H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies at the University
of Maryland. She taught at Maryland since 1979 in the Jewish Studies Program, the Hebrew Program,
and the English Department. Her main interests are biblical narrative and poetry, and the
interpretation of the Bible. Professor Berlin has written seven books and numerous articles and
essays.

This is an abridged version of Adele Berlin’s “Introduction to Lamentations” that will appear in the
second, revised and expanded edition of The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press, 2014).
 ENCYCLICAL LETTER
HUMANAE VITAE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
PAUL VI
TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS
THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS
AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES
IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE,
TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD, AND TO ALL MEN OF
GOOD WILL,
ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH

Honored Brothers and Dear Sons,

Health and Apostolic Benediction.

The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and
responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes
entails many difficulties and hardships.

The fulfillment of this duty has always posed problems to the conscience of married people, but the recent
course of human society and the concomitant changes have provoked new questions. The Church cannot ignore
these questions, for they concern matters intimately connected with the life and happiness of human beings.

I.
PROBLEM AND COMPETENCY
OF THE MAGISTERIUM

2. The changes that have taken place are of considerable importance and varied in nature. In the first place there
is the rapid increase in population which has made many fear that world population is going to grow faster than
available resources, with the consequence that many families and developing countries would be faced with
greater hardships. This can easily induce public authorities to be tempted to take even harsher measures to avert
this danger. There is also the fact that not only working and housing conditions but the greater demands made
both in the economic and educational field pose a living situation in which it is frequently difficult these days to
provide properly for a large family.

Also noteworthy is a new understanding of the dignity of woman and her place in society, of the value of
conjugal love in marriage and the relationship of conjugal acts to this love.

But the most remarkable development of all is to be seen in man's stupendous progress in the domination and
rational organization of the forces of nature to the point that he is endeavoring to extend this control over every
aspect of his own life—over his body, over his mind and emotions, over his social life, and even over the laws
that regulate the transmission of life.

New Questions

3. This new state of things gives rise to new questions. Granted the conditions of life today and taking into
account the relevance of married love to the harmony and mutual fidelity of husband and wife, would it not be
right to review the moral norms in force till now, especially when it is felt that these can be observed only with
the gravest difficulty, sometimes only by heroic effort?

Moreover, if one were to apply here the so called principle of totality, could it not be accepted that the intention
to have a less prolific but more rationally planned family might transform an action which renders natural
processes infertile into a licit and provident control of birth? Could it not be admitted, in other words, that
procreative finality applies to the totality of married life rather than to each single act? A further question is
whether, because people are more conscious today of their responsibilities, the time has not come when the
transmission of life should be regulated by their intelligence and will rather than through the specific rhythms of
their own bodies.

Interpreting the Moral Law

4. This kind of question requires from the teaching authority of the Church a new and deeper reflection on the
principles of the moral teaching on marriage—a teaching which is based on the natural law as illuminated and
enriched by divine Revelation.

No member of the faithful could possibly deny that the Church is competent in her magisterium to interpret the
natural moral law. It is in fact indisputable, as Our predecessors have many times declared, (l) that Jesus Christ,
when He communicated His divine power to Peter and the other Apostles and sent them to teach all nations His
commandments, (2) constituted them as the authentic guardians and interpreters of the whole moral law, not
only, that is, of the law of the Gospel but also of the natural law. For the natural law, too, declares the will of
God, and its faithful observance is necessary for men's eternal salvation. (3)

In carrying out this mandate, the Church has always issued appropriate documents on the nature of marriage,
the correct use of conjugal rights, and the duties of spouses. These documents have been more copious in recent
times. (4)

Special Studies

5. The consciousness of the same responsibility induced Us to confirm and expand the commission set up by
Our predecessor Pope John XXIII, of happy memory, in March, 1963. This commission included married
couples as well as many experts in the various fields pertinent to these questions. Its task was to examine views
and opinions concerning married life, and especially on the correct regulation of births; and it was also to
provide the teaching authority of the Church with such evidence as would enable it to give an apt reply in this
matter, which not only the faithful but also the rest of the world were waiting for. (5)

When the evidence of the experts had been received, as well as the opinions and advice of a considerable
number of Our brethren in the episcopate—some of whom sent their views spontaneously, while others were
requested by Us to do so—We were in a position to weigh with more precision all the aspects of this complex
subject. Hence We are deeply grateful to all those concerned.

The Magisterium's Reply

6. However, the conclusions arrived at by the commission could not be considered by Us as definitive and
absolutely certain, dispensing Us from the duty of examining personally this serious question. This was all the
more necessary because, within the commission itself, there was not complete agreement concerning the moral
norms to be proposed, and especially because certain approaches and criteria for a solution to this question had
emerged which were at variance with the moral doctrine on marriage constantly taught by the magisterium of
the Church.
Consequently, now that We have sifted carefully the evidence sent to Us and intently studied the whole matter,
as well as prayed constantly to God, We, by virtue of the mandate entrusted to Us by Christ, intend to give Our
reply to this series of grave questions.

II.
DOCTRINAL PRINCIPLES

7. The question of human procreation, like every other question which touches human life, involves more than
the limited aspects specific to such disciplines as biology, psychology, demography or sociology. It is the whole
man and the whole mission to which he is called that must be considered: both its natural, earthly aspects and its
supernatural, eternal aspects. And since in the attempt to justify artificial methods of birth control many appeal
to the demands of married love or of responsible parenthood, these two important realities of married life must
be accurately defined and analyzed. This is what We mean to do, with special reference to what the Second
Vatican Council taught with the highest authority in its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of
Today.

God's Loving Design

8. Married love particularly reveals its true nature and nobility when we realize that it takes its origin from God,
who "is love," (6) the Father "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named." (7)

Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in
reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving
design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and
exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with
God in the generation and rearing of new lives.

The marriage of those who have been baptized is, in addition, invested with the dignity of a sacramental sign of
grace, for it represents the union of Christ and His Church.

Married Love

9. In the light of these facts the characteristic features and exigencies of married love are clearly indicated, and
it is of the highest importance to evaluate them exactly.

This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural
instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant
not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a
way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.

It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously
share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience.
Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner's own
sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.

Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife
understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one
another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, no one has the
right to assert that it is impossible; it is, on the contrary, always honorable and meritorious. The example of
countless married couples proves not only that fidelity is in accord with the nature of marriage, but also that it is
the source of profound and enduring happiness.
Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also
contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature
ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and
contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare." (8)

Responsible Parenthood

10. Married love, therefore, requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations in the matter of
responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time should
be rightly understood. Thus, we do well to consider responsible parenthood in the light of its varied legitimate
and interrelated aspects.

With regard to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and respect for, their
proper functions. In the procreative faculty the human mind discerns biological laws that apply to the human
person. (9)

With regard to man's innate drives and emotions, responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must
exert control over them.

With regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by
those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and
with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite
period of time.

Responsible parenthood, as we use the term here, has one further essential aspect of paramount importance. It
concerns the objective moral order which was established by God, and of which a right conscience is the true
interpreter. In a word, the exercise of responsible parenthood requires that husband and wife, keeping a right
order of priorities, recognize their own duties toward God, themselves, their families and human society.

From this it follows that they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were
wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that
what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator. The very nature of marriage and its use makes His will
clear, while the constant teaching of the Church spells it out. (10)

Observing the Natural Law

11. The sexual activity, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, through
which human life is transmitted, is, as the recent Council recalled, "noble and worthy.'' (11) It does not,
moreover, cease to be legitimate even when, for reasons independent of their will, it is foreseen to be infertile.
For its natural adaptation to the expression and strengthening of the union of husband and wife is not thereby
suppressed. The fact is, as experience shows, that new life is not the result of each and every act of sexual
intercourse. God has wisely ordered laws of nature and the incidence of fertility in such a way that successive
births are already naturally spaced through the inherent operation of these laws. The Church, nevertheless, in
urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine,
teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of
human life. (12)

Union and Procreation

12. This particular doctrine, often expounded by the magisterium of the Church, is based on the inseparable
connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive
significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.
The reason is that the fundamental nature of the marriage act, while uniting husband and wife in the closest
intimacy, also renders them capable of generating new life—and this as a result of laws written into the actual
nature of man and of woman. And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is
preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme
responsibility of parenthood to which man is called. We believe that our contemporaries are particularly capable
of seeing that this teaching is in harmony with human reason.

Faithfulness to God's Design

13. Men rightly observe that a conjugal act imposed on one's partner without regard to his or her condition or
personal and reasonable wishes in the matter, is no true act of love, and therefore offends the moral order in its
particular application to the intimate relationship of husband and wife. If they further reflect, they must also
recognize that an act of mutual love which impairs the capacity to transmit life which God the Creator, through
specific laws, has built into it, frustrates His design which constitutes the norm of marriage, and contradicts the
will of the Author of life. Hence to use this divine gift while depriving it, even if only partially, of its meaning
and purpose, is equally repugnant to the nature of man and of woman, and is consequently in opposition to the
plan of God and His holy will. But to experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of
conception is to acknowledge that one is not the master of the sources of life but rather the minister of the
design established by the Creator. Just as man does not have unlimited dominion over his body in general, so
also, and with more particular reason, he has no such dominion over his specifically sexual faculties, for these
are concerned by their very nature with the generation of life, of which God is the source. "Human life is sacred
—all men must recognize that fact," Our predecessor Pope John XXIII recalled. "From its very inception it
reveals the creating hand of God." (13)

Unlawful Birth Control Methods

14. Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when
We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and,
above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of
regulating the number of children. (14) Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has
affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or
temporary. (15)

Similarly excluded is 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 a means. (16)

Neither is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a
lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one, or that such intercourse would merge with procreative acts of past
and future to form a single entity, and so be qualified by exactly the same moral goodness as these. Though it is
true that sometimes it is lawful to tolerate a lesser moral evil in order to avoid a greater evil or in order to
promote a greater good," it is never lawful, even for the gravest reasons, to do evil that good may come of it
(18)—in other words, to intend directly something which of its very nature contradicts the moral order, and
which must therefore be judged unworthy of man, even though the intention is to protect or promote the welfare
of an individual, of a family or of society in general. Consequently, it is a serious error to think that a whole
married life of otherwise normal relations can justify sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive and
so intrinsically wrong.

Lawful Therapeutic Means

15. On the other hand, the Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to
cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result there from—provided such
impediment is not directly intended for any motive whatsoever. (19)
Recourse to Infertile Periods

16. Now as We noted earlier (no. 3), some people today raise the objection against this particular doctrine of the
Church concerning the moral laws governing marriage, that human intelligence has both the right and
responsibility to control those forces of irrational nature which come within its ambit and to direct them toward
ends beneficial to man. Others ask on the same point whether it is not reasonable in so many cases to use
artificial birth control if by so doing the harmony and peace of a family are better served and more suitable
conditions are provided for the education of children already born. To this question We must give a clear reply.
The Church is the first to praise and commend the application of human intelligence to an activity in which a
rational creature such as man is so closely associated with his Creator. But she affirms that this must be done
within the limits of the order of reality established by God.

If therefore there are well-grounded reasons for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological
condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that married people may then
take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only
during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not in the least offend the moral
principles which We have just explained. (20)

Neither the Church nor her doctrine is inconsistent when she considers it lawful for married people to take
advantage of the infertile period but condemns as always unlawful the use of means which directly prevent
conception, even when the reasons given for the later practice may appear to be upright and serious. In reality,
these two cases are completely different. In the former the married couple rightly use a faculty provided them
by nature. In the later they obstruct the natural development of the generative process. It cannot be denied that
in each case the married couple, for acceptable reasons, are both perfectly clear in their intention to avoid
children and wish to make sure that none will result. But it is equally true that it is exclusively in the former
case that husband and wife are ready to abstain from intercourse during the fertile period as often as for
reasonable motives the birth of another child is not desirable. And when the infertile period recurs, they use
their married intimacy to express their mutual love and safeguard their fidelity toward one another. In doing this
they certainly give proof of a true and authentic love.

Consequences of Artificial Methods

17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church
on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first
consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering
of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that
human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral
law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is
that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a
woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the
satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and
affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public
authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt
to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by
married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from
favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary,
they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either
individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined
to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal
and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.
Limits to Man's Power

Consequently, unless we are willing that the responsibility of procreating life should be left to the arbitrary
decision of men, we must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of
man over his own body and its natural functions—limits, let it be said, which no one, whether as a private
individual or as a public authority, can lawfully exceed. These limits are expressly imposed because of the
reverence due to the whole human organism and its natural functions, in the light of the principles We stated
earlier, and in accordance with a correct understanding of the "principle of totality" enunciated by Our
predecessor Pope Pius XII. (21)

Concern of the Church

18. It is to be anticipated that perhaps not everyone will easily accept this particular teaching. There is too much
clamorous outcry against the voice of the Church, and this is intensified by modern means of communication.
But it comes as no surprise to the Church that she, no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a "sign of
contradiction." (22) She does not, because of this, evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but
firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical.

Since the Church did not make either of these laws, she cannot be their arbiter—only their guardian and
interpreter. It could never be right for her to declare lawful what is in fact unlawful, since that, by its very
nature, is always opposed to the true good of man.

In preserving intact the whole moral law of marriage, the Church is convinced that she is contributing to the
creation of a truly human civilization. She urges man not to betray his personal responsibilities by putting all his
faith in technical expedients. In this way she defends the dignity of husband and wife. This course of action
shows that the Church, loyal to the example and teaching of the divine Savior, is sincere and unselfish in her
regard for men whom she strives to help even now during this earthly pilgrimage "to share God's life as sons of
the living God, the Father of all men." (23)

III.
PASTORAL DIRECTIVES

19. Our words would not be an adequate expression of the thought and solicitude of the Church, Mother and
Teacher of all peoples, if, after having recalled men to the observance and respect of the divine law regarding
matrimony, they did not also support mankind in the honest regulation of birth amid the difficult conditions
which today afflict families and peoples. The Church, in fact, cannot act differently toward men than did the
Redeemer. She knows their weaknesses, she has compassion on the multitude, she welcomes sinners. But at the
same time she cannot do otherwise than teach the law. For it is in fact the law of human life restored to its
native truth and guided by the Spirit of God. (24) Observing the Divine Law.

20. The teaching of the Church regarding the proper regulation of birth is a promulgation of the law of God
Himself. And yet there is no doubt that to many it will appear not merely difficult but even impossible to
observe. Now it is true that like all good things which are outstanding for their nobility and for the benefits
which they confer on men, so this law demands from individual men and women, from families and from
human society, a resolute purpose and great endurance. Indeed it cannot be observed unless God comes to their
help with the grace by which the goodwill of men is sustained and strengthened. But to those who consider this
matter diligently it will indeed be evident that this endurance enhances man's dignity and confers benefits on
human society.

Value of Self-Discipline
21. The right and lawful ordering of birth demands, first of all, that spouses fully recognize and value the true
blessings of family life and that they acquire complete mastery over themselves and their emotions. For if with
the aid of reason and of free will they are to control their natural drives, there can be no doubt at all of the need
for self-denial. Only then will the expression of love, essential to married life, conform to right order. This is
especially clear in the practice of periodic continence. Self-discipline of this kind is a shining witness to the
chastity of husband and wife and, far from being a hindrance to their love of one another, transforms it by
giving it a more truly human character. And if this self-discipline does demand that they persevere in their
purpose and efforts, it has at the same time the salutary effect of enabling husband and wife to develop to their
personalities and to be enriched with spiritual blessings. For it brings to family life abundant fruits of tranquility
and peace. It helps in solving difficulties of other kinds. It fosters in husband and wife thoughtfulness and
loving consideration for one another. It helps them to repel inordinate self-love, which is the opposite of charity.
It arouses in them a consciousness of their responsibilities. And finally, it confers upon parents a deeper and
more effective influence in the education of their children. As their children grow up, they develop a right sense
of values and achieve a serene and harmonious use of their mental and physical powers.

Promotion of Chastity

22. We take this opportunity to address those who are engaged in education and all those whose right and duty
it is to provide for the common good of human society. We would call their attention to the need to create an
atmosphere favorable to the growth of chastity so that true liberty may prevail over license and the norms of the
moral law may be fully safeguarded.

Everything therefore in the modern means of social communication which arouses men's baser passions and
encourages low moral standards, as well as every obscenity in the written word and every form of indecency on
the stage and screen, should be condemned publicly and unanimously by all those who have at heart the
advance of civilization and the safeguarding of the outstanding values of the human spirit. It is quite absurd to
defend this kind of depravity in the name of art or culture (25) or by pleading the liberty which may be allowed
in this field by the public authorities.

Appeal to Public Authorities

23. And now We wish to speak to rulers of nations. To you most of all is committed the responsibility of
safeguarding the common good. You can contribute so much to the preservation of morals. We beg of you,
never allow the morals of your peoples to be undermined. The family is the primary unit in the state; do not
tolerate any legislation which would introduce into the family those practices which are opposed to the natural
law of God. For there are other ways by which a government can and should solve the population problem—
that is to say by enacting laws which will assist families and by educating the people wisely so that the moral
law and the freedom of the citizens are both safeguarded.

Seeking True Solutions

We are fully aware of the difficulties confronting the public authorities in this matter, especially in the
developing countries. In fact, We had in mind the justifiable anxieties which weigh upon them when We
published Our encyclical letter Populorum Progressio. But now We join Our voice to that of Our predecessor
John XXIII of venerable memory, and We make Our own his words: "No statement of the problem and no
solution to it is acceptable which does violence to man's essential dignity; those who propose such solutions
base them on an utterly materialistic conception of man himself and his life. The only possible solution to this
question is one which envisages the social and economic progress both of individuals and of the whole of
human society, and which respects and promotes true human values." (26) No one can, without being grossly
unfair, make divine Providence responsible for what clearly seems to be the result of misguided governmental
policies, of an insufficient sense of social justice, of a selfish accumulation of material goods, and finally of a
culpable failure to undertake those initiatives and responsibilities which would raise the standard of living of
peoples and their children. (27) If only all governments which were able would do what some are already doing
so nobly, and bestir themselves to renew their efforts and their undertakings! There must be no relaxation in the
programs of mutual aid between all the branches of the great human family. Here We believe an almost
limitless field lies open for the activities of the great international institutions.

To Scientists

24. Our next appeal is to men of science. These can "considerably advance the welfare of marriage and the
family and also peace of conscience, if by pooling their efforts they strive to elucidate more thoroughly the
conditions favorable to a proper regulation of births." (28) It is supremely desirable, and this was also the mind
of Pius XII, that medical science should by the study of natural rhythms succeed in determining a sufficiently
secure basis for the chaste limitation of offspring. (29) In this way scientists, especially those who are Catholics,
will by their research establish the truth of the Church's claim that "there can be no contradiction between two
divine laws—that which governs the transmitting of life and that which governs the fostering of married love."
(30)

To Christian Couples

25. And now We turn in a special way to Our own sons and daughters, to those most of all whom God calls to
serve Him in the state of marriage. While the Church does indeed hand on to her children the inviolable
conditions laid down by God's law, she is also the herald of salvation and through the sacraments she flings
wide open the channels of grace through which man is made a new creature responding in charity and true
freedom to the design of his Creator and Savior, experiencing too the sweetness of the yoke of Christ. (31)

In humble obedience then to her voice, let Christian husbands and wives be mindful of their vocation to the
Christian life, a vocation which, deriving from their Baptism, has been confirmed anew and made more explicit
by the Sacrament of Matrimony. For by this sacrament they are strengthened and, one might almost say,
consecrated to the faithful fulfillment of their duties. Thus will they realize to the full their calling and bear
witness as becomes them, to Christ before the world. (32) For the Lord has entrusted to them the task of making
visible to men and women the holiness and joy of the law which united inseparably their love for one another
and the cooperation they give to God's love, God who is the Author of human life.

We have no wish at all to pass over in silence the difficulties, at times very great, which beset the lives of
Christian married couples. For them, as indeed for every one of us, "the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that
leads to life." (33) Nevertheless it is precisely the hope of that life which, like a brightly burning torch, lights up
their journey, as, strong in spirit, they strive to live "sober, upright and godly lives in this world," (34) knowing
for sure that "the form of this world is passing away." (35)

Recourse to God

For this reason husbands and wives should take up the burden appointed to them, willingly, in the strength of
faith and of that hope which "does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us ~}36 Then let them implore the help of God with unremitting
prayer and, most of all, let them draw grace and charity from that unfailing fount which is the Eucharist. If,
however, sin still exercises its hold over them, they are not to lose heart. Rather must they, humble and
persevering, have recourse to the mercy of God, abundantly bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance. In this way,
for sure, they will be able to reach that perfection of married life which the Apostle sets out in these words:
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . Even so husbands should love their wives as their
own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and
cherishes it, as Christ does the Church. . . This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the
Church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her
husband." (37)
Family Apostolate

26. Among the fruits that ripen if the law of God be resolutely obeyed, the most precious is certainly this, that
married couples themselves will often desire to communicate their own experience to others. Thus it comes
about that in the fullness of the lay vocation will be included a novel and outstanding form of the apostolate by
which, like ministering to like, married couples themselves by the leadership they offer will become apostles to
other married couples. And surely among all the forms of the Christian apostolate it is hard to think of one more
opportune for the present time. (38)

To Doctors and Nurses

27. Likewise we hold in the highest esteem those doctors and members of the nursing profession who, in the
exercise of their calling, endeavor to fulfill the demands of their Christian vocation before any merely human
interest. Let them therefore continue constant in their resolution always to support those lines of action which
accord with faith and with right reason. And let them strive to win agreement and support for these policies
among their professional colleagues. Moreover, they should regard it as an essential part of their skill to make
themselves fully proficient in this difficult field of medical knowledge. For then, when married couples ask for
their advice, they may be in a position to give them right counsel and to point them in the proper direction.
Married couples have a right to expect this much from them.

To Priests

28. And now, beloved sons, you who are priests, you who in virtue of your sacred office act as counselors and
spiritual leaders both of individual men and women and of families—We turn to you filled with great
confidence. For it is your principal duty—We are speaking especially to you who teach moral theology—to
spell out clearly and completely the Church's teaching on marriage. In the performance of your ministry you
must be the first to give an example of that sincere obedience, inward as well as outward, which is due to the
magisterium of the Church. For, as you know, the pastors of the Church enjoy a special light of the Holy Spirit
in teaching the truth. (39) And this, rather than the arguments they put forward, is why you are bound to such
obedience. Nor will it escape you that if men's peace of soul and the unity of the Christian people are to be
preserved, then it is of the utmost importance that in moral as well as in dogmatic theology all should obey the
magisterium of the Church and should speak as with one voice. Therefore We make Our own the anxious words
of the great Apostle Paul and with all Our heart We renew Our appeal to you: "I appeal to you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be
united in the same mind and the same judgment." (40)

Christian Compassion

29. Now it is an outstanding manifestation of charity toward souls to omit nothing from the saving doctrine of
Christ; but this must always be joined with tolerance and charity, as Christ Himself showed in His conversations
and dealings with men. For when He came, not to judge, but to save the world, (41) was He not bitterly severe
toward sin, but patient and abounding in mercy toward sinners?

Husbands and wives, therefore, when deeply distressed by reason of the difficulties of their life, must find
stamped in the heart and voice of their priest the likeness of the voice and the love of our Redeemer.

So speak with full confidence, beloved sons, convinced that while the Holy Spirit of God is present to the
magisterium proclaiming sound doctrine, He also illumines from within the hearts of the faithful and invites
their assent. Teach married couples the necessary way of prayer and prepare them to approach more often with
great faith the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance. Let them never lose heart because of their weakness.

To Bishops
30. And now as We come to the end of this encyclical letter, We turn Our mind to you, reverently and lovingly,
beloved and venerable brothers in the episcopate, with whom We share more closely the care of the spiritual
good of the People of God. For We invite all of you, We implore you, to give a lead to your priests who assist
you in the sacred ministry, and to the faithful of your dioceses, and to devote yourselves with all zeal and
without delay to safeguarding the holiness of marriage, in order to guide married life to its full human and
Christian perfection. Consider this mission as one of your most urgent responsibilities at the present time. As
you well know, it calls for concerted pastoral action in every field of human diligence, economic, cultural and
social. If simultaneous progress is made in these various fields, then the intimate life of parents and children in
the family will be rendered not only more tolerable, but easier and more joyful. And life together in human
society will be enriched with fraternal charity and made more stable with true peace when God's design which
He conceived for the world is faithfully followed.

A Great Work

31. Venerable brothers, beloved sons, all men of good will, great indeed is the work of education, of progress
and of charity to which We now summon all of you. And this We do relying on the unshakable teaching of the
Church, which teaching Peter's successor together with his brothers in the Catholic episcopate faithfully guards
and interprets. And We are convinced that this truly great work will bring blessings both on the world and on
the Church. For man cannot attain that true happiness for which he yearns with all the strength of his spirit,
unless he keeps the laws which the Most High God has engraved in his very nature. These laws must be wisely
and lovingly observed. On this great work, on all of you and especially on married couples, We implore from
the God of all holiness and pity an abundance of heavenly grace as a pledge of which We gladly bestow Our
apostolic blessing.

Given at St. Peter's, Rome, on the 25th day of July, the feast of St. James the Apostle, in the year 1968, the sixth
of Our pontificate.

PAUL VI

NOTES

LATIN TEXT: Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 60 (1968), 481-503.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION: The Pope Speaks, 13 (Fall. 1969), 329-46.

REFERENCES:

(1) See Pius IX, encyc. letter Oui pluribus: Pii IX P.M. Acta, 1, pp. 9-10; St. Pius X encyc. letter Singulari
quadam: AAS 4 (1912), 658; Pius XI, encyc.letter Casti connubii: AAS 22 (1930), 579-581; Pius XII, address
Magnificate Dominum to the episcopate of the Catholic World: AAS 46 (1954), 671-672; John XXIII, encyc.
letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 457.

(2) See Mt 28. 18-19.

(3) See Mt 7. 21.

(4) See Council of Trent Roman Catechism, Part II, ch. 8; Leo XIII, encyc.letter Arcanum: Acta Leonis XIII, 2
(1880), 26-29; Pius XI, encyc.letter Divini illius Magistri: AAS 22 (1930), 58-61; encyc. letter Casti connubii:
AAS 22 (1930), 545-546; Pius XII, Address to Italian Medico-Biological Union of St. Luke: Discorsi e
radiomessaggi di Pio XII, VI, 191-192; to Italian Association of Catholic Midwives: AAS 43 (1951), 835-854;
to the association known as the Family Campaign, and other family associations: AAS 43 (1951), 857-859; to
7th congress of International Society of Hematology: AAS 50 (1958), 734-735 [TPS VI, 394-395]; John XXIII,
encyc.letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 446-447 [TPS VII, 330-331]; Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, nos. 47-52: AAS 58 (1966), 1067-1074 [TPS XI,
289-295]; Code of Canon Law, canons 1067, 1068 §1, canon 1076, §§1-2.

(5) See Paul VI, Address to Sacred College of Cardinals: AAS 56 (1964), 588 [TPS IX, 355-356]; to
Commission for the Study of Problems of Population, Family and Birth: AAS 57 (1965), 388 [TPS X, 225]; to
National Congress of the Italian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology: AAS 58 (1966), 1168 [TPS XI, 401-
403].

(6) See 1 Jn 4. 8.

(7) Eph 3. 15.

(8) Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, no. 50: AAS 58
(1966), 1070-1072 [TPS XI, 292-293].

(9) See St. Thomas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 94, art. 2.

(10) See Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, nos . 50- 5 1:
AAS 58 ( 1 966) 1070-1073 [TPS XI, 292-293].

(11) See ibid., no. 49: AAS 58 (1966), 1070 [TPS XI, 291-292].

(12) See Pius XI. encyc. letter Casti connubi: AAS 22 (1930), 560; Pius XII, Address to Midwives: AAS 43
(1951), 843.

(13) See encyc. letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 447 [TPS VII, 331].

(14) See Council of Trent Roman Catechism, Part II, ch. 8; Pius XI, encyc. letter Casti connubii: AAS 22
(1930), 562-564; Pius XII, Address to Medico-Biological Union of St. Luke: Discorsi e radiomessaggi, VI,
191-192; Address to Midwives: AAS 43 (1951), 842-843; Address to Family Campaign and other family
associations: AAS 43 (1951), 857-859; John XXIII, encyc. letter Pacem in terris: AAS 55 (1963), 259-260
[TPS IX, 15-16]; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, no. 51:
AAS 58 (1966), 1072 [TPS XI, 293].

(15) See Pius XI, encyc. letter Casti connubii: AAS 22 (1930), 565; Decree of the Holy Office, Feb. 22, 1940:
AAS 32 (1940), 73; Pius XII, Address to Midwives: AAS 43

(1951), 843-844; to the Society of Hematology: AAS 50 (1958), 734-735 [TPS VI, 394-395].

(16) See Council of Trent Roman Catechism, Part II, ch. 8; Pius XI, encyc. letter Casti connubii: AAS 22
(1930), 559-561; Pius XII, Address to Midwives: AAS 43 (1951), 843; to the Society of Hematology: AAS 50
(1958), 734-735 [TPS VI, 394-395]; John XXIII, encyc.letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 447 [TPS VII,
331].

(17) See Pius XII, Address to National Congress of Italian Society of the Union of Catholic Jurists: AAS 45
(1953), 798-799 [TPS I, 67-69].

(18) See Rom 3. 8.

(19) See Pius XII, Address to 26th Congress of Italian Association of Urology: AAS 45 (1953), 674-675; to
Society of Hematology: AAS 50 (1958), 734-735 [TPS VI, 394-395].

(20) See Pius XII, Address to Midwives: AAS 43 (1951), 846.

(21) See Pius XII, Address to Association of Urology: AAS 45 (1953), 674-675; to leaders and members of
Italian Association of Cornea Donors and Italian Association for the Blind: AAS 48 (1956), 461-462 [TPS III,
200-201].

(22) Lk 2. 34.

(23) See Paul Vl, encyc. letter Populorum progressio: AAS 59 (1967), 268 [TPS XII, 151].

(24) See Rom 8.

(25) See Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Media of Social Communication, nos. 6-7: AAS 56 (1964),
147 [TPS IX, 340-341].

(26) Encyc. letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 447 [TPS VII, 331].

(27) See encyc. letter Populorum progressio, nos. 48-55: AAS 59 (1967), 281-284 [TPS XII, 160-162].

(28) Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, no. 52: AAS 58
(1966), 1074 [TPS XI, 294].

(29) Address to Family Campaign and other family associations: AAS 43 (1951), 859.

(30) Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, no. 51: AAS 58
(1966), 1072 [TPS XI, 293].

(31) See Mt 11. 30.

(32) See Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, no. 48: AAS 58
(1966), 1067-1069 [TPS XI,290-291]; Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 35: AAS 57 (1965), 40-41
[TPS X, 382-383].

(33) Mt 7. 14; see Heb 12. 11.

(34) See Ti 2. 12.

(35) See 1 Cor 7. 31.

(36) Rom 5. 5.

(37) Eph 5. 25, 28-29, 32-33.

(38) See Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, nos. 35, 41: AAS 57 (1965), 40-45
[TPS X, 382-383, 386-387; Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of Today, nos. 48-49: AAS 58
(1966),1067-1070 [TPS XI, 290-292]; Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, no. 11: AAS 58 (1966), 847-849
[TPS XI, 128-129].
(39) See Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 25: AAS 57 (1965), 29-31 [TPS X,
375-376].

(40) 1 Cor 1. 10.

(41) See Jn 3. 17.