L’arcivescovo Denis Hurley e Humanae vitae tra legge naturale e collegialità episcopale
Abstract
This article explores the reactions of South African Archbishop Denis Hurley to the encyclical Humanae vitae (1968), with particular attention to the relationship between natural law and episcopal collegiality. Drawing on two letters addressed to Paul VI (1967 and 1969), Hurley criticizes both the absolute application of natural law and the pope’s solitary decision-making. He instead advocates for a greater role of conscience and collegiality as conditions for a more receivable magisterium, highlighting the interplay between the crisis of natural law’s persuasiveness and that of authority in the post-conciliar Church.
Presentato: 11 Luglio 2025 | Accettato: 15 Ottobre 2025 | Pubblicato 27 Ottobre 2025 | Lingua: it
Keywords Episcopal collegiality • Natural law • Papal authority • Humanae vitae • Mgr Denis Eugene Hurley • Bishops
Copyright © 2025 Laura Ballestrazzi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/JoMaCC/2785-6046/2025/02/002