Beyond doubt, Humanae Vitae was infallible

From Fr Thomas Crean OP SIR – John Wilkins (Letters, May 28) ascribes to me the view that “if Humanae Vitae is not infallible, it should be treated as if it were”. In fact, my letter indicated why we should accept that it is indeed an infallible and irreformable teaching of the Church. Vatican I gave four criteria that must be fulfilled if a Pope is to speak infallibly. He must speak “as shepherd and teacher of all Christians”, not, for example, as a private theologian or as bishop of the Diocese of Rome. He must be speaking on a question of faith or morals. He must be “defining” a doctrine, that is intending to settle a matter so that no doubt need remain in the minds of the faithful. He must be speaking to the whole Church, not simply to a portion of it. All four conditions were fulfilled by Humanae Vitae. Pope Paul VI, invoking the authority given to him by Jesus Christ (HV 4) and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (HV 28-9) taught that all forms of abortion, sterilisation and contraception are to be “wholly rejected” as “intrinsically wrong”, and that whoever disagrees is “entirely mistaken” (HV 14). There can be no doubt that Pope Paul, as Pope, intended to settle a matter of morals for the benefit of the whole Church. Against this obvious fact, of what weight is the unauthorised remark of Mgr Lambruschini at a press conference?
Mr Wilkins speaks of theologians. A very full study of the authority of the encyclical was published by Fr Ermenegildo Lio in 1986, called Humanae Vitae and Infallibility. Fr Lio, who was a peritus at Vatican II and helped draft Gaudium et Spes, after analysing the encyclical and surrounding documents for a thousand pages, draws the conclusion: Humanae Vitae was infallible.
Yours faithfully, THOMAS CREAN Leicester