Theology of the Kraków Memorandum on the Transmission of Life

Martin Perčič

doi:10.25167/sth.6274

Published: 2026-10-31

Vol. 46 No. 1 (2026)

Theology of the Kraków Memorandum on the Transmission of Life

Martin Perčič

Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne Śląska Opolskiego

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.25167/sth.6274

Abstract

This article examines responsible parenthood in the Kraków Document, prepared by theolo�gians gathered around Karol Wojtyła in response to drafts of the encyclical on birth regulation. It presents the document’s philosophical and theological argument concerning human dignity, natural law, conjugal love, the transmission of life, and the moral distinction between contraception and the natural regulation of conception. The Kraków Document is interpreted as an important stage in the personalist defense of Catholic teaching on marriage and fertility. Read in relation to Wojtyła’s Love and Responsibility and John Paul II’s theology of the body, the memorandum emerges as a transitional text in which the personalist norm, responsible parenthood, and conjugal self-gift take on an explicitly theological form.

Keywords:

Karol Wojtyła, Kraków Document, transmission of life, responsible parenthood, contraception, theology of body

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Perčič, M. (2026). Theology of the Kraków Memorandum on the Transmission of Life. Studia Teologiczno-Historyczne Śląska Opolskiego, 46(1), 75–97. https://doi.org/10.25167/sth.6274

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