More of Humanae Vitae

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.

Ahhh... and yet it seemed, whether they could or not, that many, even those charged with teaching orthodoxy did exactly that, at least as regards this instance of interpreting natural moral law.
Not perhaps in so many words -- I deny the Church's competence to interpret natural moral law.
More that, the Church has said something in a manner that seems to comply with the manner in which She hitherto taught definitively and yet I deny that what She said is true or correct.

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.

Now in this, I believe from what I have read, Paul VI, of equally happy memory, was a bit more... progressive, than say, the MSM. Is it possible that in covering the story none of the American TV networks, in interviewing members of the commission and other lay-people aired the thoughts of any women?

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 seems only right. Surely no one on the commission believed they themselves, even should they have been unanimous in their conclusions, were appointed to teach magisterially, or that the Holy Father was bound to accept their opinion, as if they were infallible?

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.

This, it seems to me, is the crux of the matter -- that Christ is our Bridegroom, and in the words of the old hymn, He is a "spendthrift lover" in every way, He would put no limits on the issue of His love, the children of that union, does He? (contra those sects that dare to assign a specific and finite number to the "Saved.")
Who among the children of God is so greedy that he wishes to keep Father's love all to himself? (Although I do recall a priest of the archdiocese of Los Angelese being quoted saying something truly boneheaded in print, something about not really wanting more converts, because after all, they didn't have the priests to minister to them, right? And there is the cranky British blogger who doesn't recognize his little brothers and sisters in those he described as "boat people...")