As we head to the Beatification of Pope Paul VI tomorrow, there are surely positive things to say about the Pope and his singular achievement, Humanae Vitae, but a little context is certainly necessary.

HV was an attempt to get all the worms back in the can the Pope had opened with the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control and its report. It is beyond debate that he and all the Popes since have been unable to put the worms back in that can. How many souls have been lost because of it?

Again, no doctrine changed, but the report of an advisory committee to the Pope did untold damage. Something to keep in mind.