The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee marked the start of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week on Sunday, telling people the week is celebrated on the anniversary of an encyclical on marriage.

“Today begins Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week in honor of the 54th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's ‘Humanae Vitae,’ an encyclical on marital love, responsible parenthood and artificial contraception,” the diocese posted on social media. “NFP offers ethical, natural, safe and effective methods for both achieving and avoiding pregnancy in marriage. The Catholic Church supports the methods of NFP because they respect God's design for married love.” 

The principle of Natural Family Planning (NFP) is rooted in the idea that marriage is a gift through which spouses can share in God's procreative love, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said. NFP describes fertility as a priceless gift that should not be rejected, contrary to contraception, which is considered a suppression of the gift of fertility and a rejection of the total union of husband and wife. 

Practicing NFP does not mean that married couples must leave the size of their family up to chance, the bishops contend. By learning about human fertility, husbands and wives can practice sexual intimacy during the times in a woman's cycle in which she is naturally infertile, without violating the purpose of marital intercourse. Contraception is an assertion of one's belief that he or she should have total control over the creation of life, rejecting God's design. 

Pope John Paul II once discussed the myriad benefits of abiding by NFP.

“Using the natural methods requires and strengthens the harmony of the married couple, it helps and confirms the rediscovery of the marvelous gift of parenthood, it involves respect for nature and demands the responsibility of the individuals," Pope John Paul II said in 1996.