gq: Paul VI was concerned but not surprised by the negative reaction in Western Europe and the United States. He fully anticipated this reaction to be a temporary one: "Don't be afraid", he reportedly told Edouard Gagnon on the eve of the encyclical, "in twenty years time they'll call me a prophet." His biography on the Vatican's website notes of his reaffirmations of priestly celibacy and the traditional teaching on contraception that "[t]he controversies over these two pronouncements tended to overshadow the last years of his pontificate". Pope John Paul II later reaffirmed and expanded upon Humanae vitae with the encyclical Evangelium vitae.
Question: To whom did Paul VI tell "not to be afraid" when the church released its statement on birth control? Question: To what did Western Europe and the United States demonstrate a negative response? Question: What did Paul VI declare he would be seen as in 25 years? Question: To which pope can the Evangelium Vitae be attributed to? Question: Which pope affirmed Paul VI Humanae Vitae?