Original scientific paper
Actuality of the Principle of Responsible Procreation and Its Promulgation in Gaudium et Spes (50-51)
Šimun Bilokapić
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Abstract
Every anniversary celebration of the Encyclical ”Humanae
Vitae” actualizes the issue of responsible human procreation,
particularly the part referring to birth control. This fact, on the
one hand, points to the continuing relevance of this principle,
and on the other hand, to the constant need to present its basic
content and meaning, not just its operationalization, in the simplest
and most acceptable way; in accordance with the time it is
necessary to understand it, accept it and live it. This article seeks
to participate in these endeavours. The work is divided into four
parts. In the first part we point to the relevance of the principle
of responsible birthing and difficulty in understanding the concepts
of ”responsibility” and ”giving birth”. In the second part we
consider the true meaning of these terms, that is, we are trying
to expose the structure of the principle of responsible procreation
and its essential elements. The attempt to reveal the true
meaning of the notion and the perceived difficulties in the actual
understanding of responsible procreation, lead us to resort to the
”sources” in the third part of our work, that is, to discover the
way in which the Second Vatican Council in the Pastoral Constitution
”Gaudium et spes” designed, sketched and promulgated
this principle. In the fourth part we briefly analyse the important
conclusions of some of the post-council documents and the
most common pastoral issues related to the operational part of
the principle of responsible procreation, aware that the methods
of regulating the birth and any need to confess in this matter will
perpetuate this issue in the far future.
Keywords
marriage; marriage act; fertility; love; birth; responsibility; the principle of responsible procreation; contraception
Hrčak ID:
206547
URI
Publication date:
10.10.2018.
Visits: 1.448 *