Pope Paul VI's landmark 1968 encyclical explored the effects of then-new technologies on human reproduction, and reaffirmed the traditional Catholic anthropological teaching on the exclusive, permanent conjugal relationship of marriage as the fundamental building block of society. In the view of presenter Mary Eberstadt, Humanae Vitae is "the most globally reviled and widely misunderstood document of the last half century [and] also the most prophetic and explanatory of our time."
Mary Eberstadt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Faith & Reason Institute. Her writing has appeared in TIME, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Review, First Things, The Weekly Standard, thecatholicthing.org and other publications. This talk was delivered at the University of Notre Dame, sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Culture.