In a time of fluid identities, polyamory, rapid separation, individualism pushed to the extreme, Leo XIV’s doctrinal texts certainly went against the grain. The praise of monogamy (between a man and a woman in marriage), although not adding anything new to the traditional doctrine of the Church, remains a fixed point from which the faithful must begin and reconsider.
According to the notes, sexual marriage is a blessing and the couple already had children beforehand. A couple is defined as “the essential property of marriage, a unique and exclusive union between a single woman and a single man, or in other words, as the joint property of both of them, which cannot be shared with anyone else”.
The document issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith approved by Pope Leo underlines that “it may sound strange or contradictory but we can apply the following words of Saint Augustine: ‘Give me a heart that loves, and it will understand what I say'”
Therefore, monogamy is not simply the opposite of polygamy. “It goes beyond that, and its in-depth analysis allows us to understand marriage in all its richness and success.
This question is closely related to the goal of the unity of sexuality, which is not limited to ensuring procreation, but helps to enrich and strengthen the unique and exclusive union and sense of mutual belonging.” As for sex, drawing on the teachings of Saint John Paul II, it is reiterated that sex strengthens the union between partners: “If a person neglects himself and his immediate needs, and uses another person as the only means of escape, the pleasure leaves the person more dissatisfied and the feeling of emptiness and loneliness becomes more bitter.”
The document, explains Cardinal Victor Fernandez, Argentinian theologian and prefect of the former Holy Office, takes seriously the current global context of “the development of technological power, in which man is tempted to think of himself as a limitless being, who can achieve everything he imagines. In this way, the value of exclusive love, reserved for only one person, is easily obscured, which in itself means the free rejection of many other possibilities.
According to him, we can talk about “husband and wife friendship” which is “full of knowing each other, respecting each other, involvement, intimacy, understanding and patience, seeking the good in each other, a sensitive attitude, going beyond sexuality, while embracing it and giving it the most beautiful, deepest, most united and most beneficial meaning.”
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