The Vatican releases “Una caro”, a document on monogamy. The Church also clarifies that sex within marriage serves a unitive purpose, not only a procreative one.

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The long-announced document “Una caro. Praise of Monogamy” has now been officially released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

It was published just a few hours ago and offers a reflection on the essential value of monogamy in Christian marriage, defined as an exclusive union and mutual belonging “between one woman and one man.”

There will certainly be time to analyze the document in greater detail, but for now we would like to focus on one of the points raised by the Dicastery: the sexual purpose of marriage.

 

Does the Church teach that sex is only for procreation?

This topic interests us particularly because of the widespread prejudices in society, which we have addressed many times in the past.

How often do we hear that the Church supposedly “allows” sex only for procreation? According to this widespread belief, sexual activity would be permitted by the Vatican strictly for reproductive purposes, as if the Church were radically sex-phobic.

It is one of the most frequently repeated falsehoods, and one believed even by many priests and lay Catholics.

 

From the Church Fathers to Vatican II

The newly published document, however, clarifies that conjugal sexuality (that is, sexuality between spouses) also has a fundamental unitive purpose, not necessarily linked to procreation.

From the very introduction of the Nota, it is emphasized that sexual union “is not limited to ensuring procreation, but contributes to enriching and strengthening the unique and exclusive union and the sense of mutual belonging.”

The marital act, understood also in its unitive dimension—beautifully expressed by the phrase “making love”—is supported through citations from several Church Fathers who criticized excessive continence within marriage (St. John Chrysostom and St. Clement of Alexandria). Furthermore, St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori described the sexual relationship between spouses as an “essential intrinsic end”, while considering procreation as “an intrinsic but accidental end.”

Therefore, he wrote that “three ends may be considered in marriage: essential intrinsic ends, accidental intrinsic ends, and accidental extrinsic ends. The essential intrinsic ends are two: mutual self-gift, with the obligation to fulfill the marital debt [that is, sexual relations], and the indissoluble bond. The accidental intrinsic ends are also two: the generation of offspring, and the remedy for concupiscence.”¹A.M. de’ Liguori, “Theologia moralis”, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, Rome 1912, lib. VI, tract. VI, cap. II, dub. I, n. 882.

This tradition continues up to the Second Vatican Council, which in “Gaudium et spes” presented marriage as a work of God consisting of a communion of life and love shared by the spouses, a “communion which,” as the Nota specifies, “is not ordered solely to procreation, but also to the integral good of both.”

The same teaching was reaffirmed by Paul VI in his encyclical “Humanae vitae”, when he urged to preserve “these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative”.

 

The Purposes of Sex in John Paul II

It was John Paul II who perhaps most frequently emphasized the unitive purpose, not only the procreative one, in Catholic marriage.

He even acknowledged that, on this subject, “Catholic thought is often misunderstood, as if the Church supported an ideology of unlimited fertility, pushing spouses to have children without any discernment or planning”.

Yet, the Polish Pope continued, “all it takes is a careful reading of the Magisterium’s teachings to see that this is not the case”.

The Note also cites writings of the young Wojtyla, who, speaking of the conjugal act, stated that “being in itself an act of love that unites two persons, it may not necessarily be considered by them as a conscious and deliberate means of procreation”²K. Wojtyla, “Love and Responsibility”, Marietti 1980, p. 173.

 

The Use of Natural Methods

This is where natural methods of fertility regulation come into play, those that many mistakenly define as “Catholic contraception.”

Already Paul VI reminded us that “the Church teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth” and also choosing the most suitable moments to welcome new life.

Meanwhile, continued Pope Paul VI, the couple may make use of these periods “as a mutual love and safeguard their fidelity toward one another. In doing this they certainly give proof of a true and authentic love.”

 

And What About Those Who Have No Children?

The Vatican Note also addresses the delicate topic of the absence of children in marriage and, drawing once again from the great Fathers (Augustine, St. John Chrysostom), explains that marriage remains a good even if children do not arrive. Otherwise, writes Saint Augustine, “it would not continue to be called marriage even for the elderly, especially when they may have lost children or never had any at all.”³Augustine, “De bono coniugali”, 3, 3: PL 40, 375.

Karol Wojtyla also explained that “for many reasons, marriage may not become a family, but this lack does not deprive it of its essential character.”

Therefore, “a marriage in which there are no children, through no fault of the spouses, retains the full value of the institution and loses nothing of its importance.”⁴K. Wojtyla, “Love and Responsibility”, Marietti 1980, p. 161

The same was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council, recalling that “marriage persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the couple, offspring are lacking.”