Despite being "the most discussed encyclical in the last 50 years," there is "no need to update it," the priest told CNA.
Lamenting "polarization" in the Church surrounding Humanae vitae, which teaches that artificial contraception of the marital act is a moral evil, the priest said addressing division "cannot be solved by imagining a new doctrine or a new pastoral activity, but by going beyond the polarization," though he did not elaborate on what it would mean to "go beyond" polarization over the document's teaching.
Marengo was himself a student of the John Paul II Institute, and in 1989 earned one of the very first doctorates granted by the school, writing a dissertation under the guidance of now-Cardinal Angelo Scola, emeritus archbishop of Milan. He has taught at the John Paul II Institute since that time.
The priest has called for conversation between theologians with differing views on Pope Francis' 2015 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, while his own viewpoint on the exhortation is entirely clear.
The priest told CNA in 2017 that "theological and pastoral reflection have still a long way to go in order to gain a proper and fruitful understanding of both Paul VI's and Pope Francis' texts."
Also in 2017, Marengo wrote "whenever the Christian community falls into the error of proposing models of life derived from excessively abstract and artificially constructed theological ideals, it conceives its pastoral action as the schematic application of a doctrinal paradigm," while calling for an effort to read Amoris laetitia in continuity with the Church's doctrinal teachings.