Apparently Humanae Vitae was a miracle!

So there he [Pope Paul VI] was making a decision on "Humanae Vitae" and he left it to the Holy Spirit. That is really remarkable. That one moment in making the decision to write "Humanae Vitae," that one moment, is all we need from him to be a saint.

As difficult as it was been since "Humanae Vitae" was released, to have taken this position, it is absolutely a miracle. That miracle on its own is enough to canonize him. He was a very, very holy, person and he made probably one of the toughest decisions, if not the toughest, in the 20th century. But it was the right one. I hope his canonization happens.

Wow. I've heard people defend Paul VI's decision not to change the official teaching on contraception, but this is hilarious.

This quotation comes from an interview with Dr. Thomas Hilgers, director of the Pope Paul VI Institute. The interview was published in response to the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, which is today.

What can I say about Humanae Vitae? A lot of people see it as a great tragedy. In some ways it was. In at least one way, though, I think it's served a positive function: I imagine this encyclical has woken more than a few people up to the fallibility of the magisterium.