Pope Paul VI became the first Pope to visit America, when he arrived in New York City to address the United Nations, on the afternoon of Oct. 4th 1965. This was only four months, after the Pill had been legalized in the United States, namely on June 7th. In the great U.N. Assembly Hall, Paul VI in French gave his famous talk to all the Nations of the World about No More War, War Never Again. When the Pope arrived in the morning, he was treated by the Media like a hero. He received constant applause in the first two thirds of his talk about peace and War Never Again. Then everything changed, when the Pope to the surprise of the United Nation members, the Media and many others pushing for the Church to change its position on contraceptives, said: “…the life of man is sacred; no one may dare offend it. Respect for life, even with regard to the great problem of the birth rate, must find here in your Assembly its highest affirmation and its most reasoned defense. You must strive to multiply bread so that it suffices for the tables of mankind, and not rather favor an artificial control of birth, which would be irrational, in order to diminish the number of guests at the banquet of life.” By evening the Media halted their praise of the Pope.
Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. (14) Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary. (15)
