A new decree from the Catholic Church has updated guidelines on sex in marriage for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. The document, approved by Pope Leo XIV, says that sexual relations are not limited to procreation, but must be an “exclusive marriage union,” in defense of monogamous relationships.
The guidelines, signed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (former Court of the Holy Office) and published in Italian on the official website, state that sexual intercourse within marriage also serves to “enrich and strengthen the unique and exclusive union and sense of mutual belonging” between man and woman.
The Vatican’s doctrinal memorandum was motivated mainly by the issue of polygamy in Africa – the continent with the greatest growth in the number of Catholics today – including among members of the Catholic Church, where a man marries more than one woman.
In the text, monogamy is presented as a guarantee of the development of sexuality in the recognition of the other with whom it fully shares life, and not as an object of use. “The issue is closely linked to the unitary goal of sexuality, which is not limited to ensuring procreation, but contributes to enriching and strengthening the unique and exclusive union and sense of mutual belonging,” the memorandum said.
The document deepens the concept of marital love, which is the supernatural love that elevates the marital bond.
“Love, including conjugal love, is an emotional union, where the ‘affective’ is here understood as something more than mere feelings and desires: it involves an emotional bond between the one he loves and the object of the loved one: insofar as he who loves considers the person he loves to be one with him.”
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Pope Leo XIV on his first international trip as Pope
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Pope Leo arrives in Türkiye Thursday (11/27)
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“Excessive search for sex”
The new decree of the Catholic Church also warns against “excessive search for sex.” The document says that it cannot be denied that in recent decades, “in the context of post-modern consumer individualism”, several problems have arisen resulting from “an excessive and uncontrolled search for sex or a mere denial of the procreative purpose of sexuality.”
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Thus, the decree warns of the danger of ending the “emotional exchange” that must exist in a sexual relationship within marriage.
The document says: “One of the features of recent decades is the explicit denial of the unitary purpose of sexuality and marriage itself. This is caused mainly by a feeling of anxiety, constant busyness, the desire for more free time for oneself, the constant obsession with travel and the exploration of other realities. Thus, the desire for emotional exchange, for sexual relations themselves, disappears, but also the desire for dialogue and cooperation, as all this is perceived as exhausting.”
The document states that true love between spouses also involves openness to fertility, but it emphasizes that every sexual relationship does not need to have procreation as its direct goal. Sexual union must remain open to life, but not conditioned by it in every action.
Hence, the text highlights three cases:
- Couples who cannot have children for biological reasons;
- Couples who do not intentionally seek sexual intercourse for reproductive purposes;
- Use natural periods of infertility, which can help in family planning and in choosing the best time to have a baby. The document also says that these periods can enhance affection and fidelity between spouses, and express true love.
Although not an absolute novelty within the Catholic tradition, this approach is highlighted in the new text, which cites not only religious authorities, but also writers such as Pablo Neruda and Eugenio Montale, as well as Kierkegaard’s reflections on marriage. The contradiction stands in the face of the Catholic Church’s ancient guidelines – especially from the 16th and 17th centuries – which called for greater sexual restraint even among married couples.