Did all Catholic educators, theologians, priests, and religious remain obedient to the pope after Vatican Council II?
Many did, but others did not obey the pope, making subtle distinctions that the pope must be obeyed or listened to only when he speaks infallibly. Such has never been the teaching of the Church, and it was not the teaching of Vatican Council II. For example, controversies broke out whereby the position of the pope was attacked on such matters as artificial birth control. Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical Humane Vitae (July 29, 1968), restated the traditional teaching of the Church, by which Catholics, in the sacredness of matrimony, are told that “each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life” (art. 11). A group of theologians took to the public media to protest the pope’s restating of the Catholic position against artificial birth control, and their action was contrary “to the binding force of religious assent” which Pope Paul said his encyclical on marriage doctrine and morality required. As soon as it was announced that the pope was releasing the encyclical,
