More than a hundred people attended quotation in an Academic workshop on the encyclicals Humanae vitae and Veritatis splendor, organized by the School of Theology of the University of Navarra. The meeting was held on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the first encyclical, written by Blessed Paul VI, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of the second, by St. John Paul II.

The workshop began with the roundtable "50th anniversary of Humanae vitae", in which participated the professors of the School of Theology Augusto Sarmiento and José María Pardo, and the professor of the School of Medicine Cristina López del Burgo. Under the degree scroll "The roots of dissent and acceptance of Humanae vitae", Professor Sarmiento focused his reflection on two aspects related to the reception of the encyclical: the reasons given to justify dissent and the keys behind its acceptance or rejection. "The encyclical openly contradicted the tastes of a time and a culture that, in not a few environments and places, was moving in another direction. Also among Catholics there was the incomprehension of many lay people and, above all, the violent civil service examination of influential groups of theologians and the ambiguous position of some Bishops' Conferences," he said. However, in contrast, "another broad sector of theologians was in favor of the teaching of Humanae vitae. Beyond particular questions, they moved in two directions: the skill of the Magisterium in questions of morality and the need for an adequate interpretation of the natural law".

For her part, Professor López del Burgo spoke on "Paternity manager and family planning". She assured that "in spite of the fact that the encyclical was a sign of contradiction, it provoked a pastoral and scientific mobilization, thanks to which programs of study scientific methods of natural planning were promoted and are currently recognized by the WHO". With regard to these methods, Dr. Lopez del Burgo pointed out some current myths and refuted them with numerous data, results and evidence from programs of study scientists. She also highlighted their many benefits; among others, "conjugal reflection on parenthood manager, self-management of fertility, their efficacy, their low cost or their ecological character".

In his intervention, degree scroll "Walking in truth towards holiness", Professor Pardo focused his discussion paper on the conjugal act as a path to sanctification, pointing out the vocational character of marriage and its raison d'être: "The conjugal vocation is not a second vocation to be added to the Christian vocation, but a determination. If Christians, by the baptismal vocation, are called to be saints, with the term 'marital vocation' we designate the call of God to be saints in marriage." He also explained that "the conjugal act is a channel for the realization of the good of the spouses, and it will serve this purpose if it is an expression of the total mutual self-giving of both, which implies openness to life and respect for the person of the other spouse." He also referred to the liturgical dimension of conjugal relations: "Through the mystery of the Cross, the spouses of marriage are configured to the spouses of the Cross: Christ and the Church. From this perspective, it is understood that the conjugal relations of Christian spouses are oblative realities, give glory to God and are a path to holiness".

25th anniversary of Veritatis splendor

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of Veritatis splendor, the second roundtable featured Professors Tomás Trigo, Daniel Granada and Enrique Molina, who reflected on the valuable contributions of this text to modern society. In his intervention on "Truth and Freedom", Professor Trigo recalled an idea core topic of Veritatis splendor: "Contemporary culture has largely lost this essential link between Truth-Good-Freedom and, therefore, to lead man to rediscover it is today one of the demands proper to the Church's mission statement , for the salvation of the world". The cause of such a loss in today's culture - he affirmed - was, above all, a theological error: understanding God as omnipotent will with absolute freedom of indifference. "Consequently, to unite truth and freedom again, it is necessary to begin with theology, with a true knowledge of God, which we can find through reason and revelation," he concluded.

Under the degree scroll "Conscience and prudence", Professor Granada pointed out in his speech that, "as Veritatis splendor says, the person is called to the good, through the realization of some concrete goods that, if they are not realized, do not achieve the good of the person. The call staff to fullness in God must be realized through the concrete". He also affirmed that man "does not find himself from an empty conscience", and that "conscience cannot be explained with scientific methods or humanist methods that, at bottom, are materialistic or idealistic". He added that the nature of consciousness "remains unexplained, but we must trace its origin: this is given in the depths of the human being. In us we can discover a radical origin of transcendence and truth, linked to the experience of fundamental relationships with others and, in a culminating way, with God. This is the relational origin of conscience which, in this way, is integrated at the level of prudence as a way of attaining the perfect good of the person".

For his part, Professor Molina, in the session "Following Christ. The moral object in a Christian morality", said that Veritatis splendor was a turning point in moral theology: "We were coming from a series of interminable discussions around central themes of Christian morality and, from that moment on, there was a general unanimity". Professor Molina also proposed some interesting reflections, such as the need to distinguish between doctrine and the evangelizing mission statement of the Church: "People who try to follow Christ find themselves in a very difficult status , subject to the influence of sin. The surrounding culture is confusing. I cannot propose to such a person to look only at the moral object of actions, but above all to follow Christ, which is possible only by the grace of God. Such a person needs a truth to look at (Christ) and a will with which to go forward (strengthened by the grace of Christ)".

workshop lecture Mario Iceta, Bishop of Bilbao and President of the Episcopal Subcommission on Family and Life of the Spanish Episcopal lecture , who presented the responses of Humanae vitae to the challenges related to procreation. He also affirmed that "the Pope wrote the encyclical because of an ecclesial question -because the Council commanded him to do so- and because of the cultural context of modernity, which gave rise to serious challenges such as the sexual revolution". He emphasized that Paul VI "did not shy away or allow himself to be led by majorities: after praying and studying, he acted in conscience. Bishop Iceta recalled that, as Pope Francis also pointed out, Blessed Paul VI recommended mercy to confessors in the face of new challenges: "Mercy is the perfection of justice, and forgiveness is the perfection of love. It is a matter of deepening the doctrine, that pastoral care takes into account the status of each person, looking at the moral act from each concrete status . Paul VI was courageous, he was a good pastor, a prophetic pope".