While I agree that Paul VI was a "great pope," I also recognize that he - like ALL popes - had/have their limitations.  No matter how your slice it, Papa Montini made a huge mistake with HV in its ignoring of the recommendations of the papal commission, of bowing to the orthodox minority (so significantly in the minority!), and of not stressing enough the theology of the primacy of conscience in relation to human reproduction.  That these gaps in consideration reverberated against the fact that modern contraceptives were the product of American medical science - so it is no surprise the US Catholics would react with the negativity they did, and continue to along with so many throughout the entire Catholic world.  I am not sure what case MSW is trying to make here (a difficulty I have with most of what he writes), but I see the lack of a wider view that often renders such essays as lacking in important ways.