You shall not commit adultery.[112]
You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery."
But I
say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.[113]
2331 "God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving
communion. Creating the human race in his own image . . .. God inscribed
in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and
responsibility, of love and communion."[114]
"God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created
them";[115] He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply";[116]
"When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female
he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were
created."[117]
2332 Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his
body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love
and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds
of communion with others.
2333 Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual
identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity
are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family
life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way
in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes
are lived out.
2334 "In creating men 'male and female,' God gives man and woman an equal
personal dignity."[118] "Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since
both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God."[119]
2335 Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God,
with equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman
in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity
and fecundity: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and
cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."[120] All human
generations proceed from this union.[121]
2336 Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the
Sermon on the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: "You have heard
that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that
every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in his heart."[122] What God has joined together, let not man put
asunder.[123]
The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as
encompassing the whole of human sexuality.
2337 Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the
person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being.
Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is
expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the
relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual
gift of a man and a woman.
The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and
the integrality of the gift.
The integrity of the person
2338 The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life and
love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is
opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a
double life nor duplicity in speech.[124]
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a
training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs
his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and
becomes unhappy.[125] "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of
conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from
within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external
constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to
the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is
good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the
means suited to this end."[126]
2340 Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal promises and resist
temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge,
practice of an ascesis adapted to the situations that confront him,
obedience to God's commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and
fidelity to prayer. "Indeed it is through chastity that we are gathered
together and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into
multiplicity."[127]
2341 The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance,
which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with
reason.
2342 Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it
acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of
life.[128] The effort required can be more intense in certain periods,
such as when the personality is being formed during childhood and
adolescence.
2343 Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by
imperfection and too often by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds himself up
through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes
moral good by stages of growth."[129]
2344 Chastity represents an eminently personal task; it also involves a
cultural effort, for there is "an interdependence between personal
betterment and the improvement of society."[130] Chastity presupposes
respect for the rights of the person, in particular the right to receive
information and an education that respect the moral and spiritual
dimensions of human life.
2345 Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God, a grace, a
fruit of spiritual effort.[131] The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water
of Baptism has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ.[132]
The integrality of the gift of self
2346 Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its influence, chastity
appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery is ordered to
the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a witness
to his neighbor of God's fidelity and loving kindness.
2347 The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple
how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his friends,[133] who
has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divine
estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality.
Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with one's neighbor. Whether
it develops between persons of the same or opposite sex, friendship
represents a great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion.
The various forms of chastity
2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on
Christ,"[134] the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called
to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At
the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective
life in chastity.
2349 "People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to
their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which
enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a
remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral
law, whether they are married or single."[135] Married people are called
to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence:
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of
spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do
not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others.... This is what
makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.[136]
2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in
continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual
respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one
another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of
affection that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in
chastity.
Offenses against chastity
2351 Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual
pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself,
isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.
2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the
genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium
of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense
of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that
masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."[137] "The
deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of
marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure
is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the
moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human
procreation in the context of true love is achieved."[138]
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and
to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective
immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other
psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate moral
culpability.
2353 Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried
woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human
sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the
generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when
there is corruption of the young.
2354 Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from
the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to
third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the
conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave
injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public),
since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for
others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy
world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the
production and distribution of pornographic materials.
2355 Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in
it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who
pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his
Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy
Spirit.[139] Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves women,
but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases involve the
added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage in
prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by
destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.
2356 Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another
person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the
respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person
has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It
is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children
committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of
the children entrusted to them.
Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who
experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of
the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries
and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely
unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual
acts as acts of grave depravity,[140] tradition has always declared that
"homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."[141] They are contrary to
the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do
not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no
circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual
tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual
condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with
respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination
in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill
God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the
sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from
their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of
self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of
disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and
should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In
marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of
spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are
sanctified by the sacrament.
2361 "Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one
another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not
something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human
person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an
integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves
totally to one another until death."[142]
Tobias got out of bed and said to Sarah, "Sister, get up, and let us pray
and implore our Lord that he grant us mercy and safety." So she got up,
and they began to pray and implore that they might be kept safe. Tobias
began by saying, "Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.... You made Adam,
and for him you made his wife Eve as a helper and support. From the two of
them the race of mankind has sprung. You said, 'It is not good that the
man should be alone; let us make a helper for him like himself.' I now am
taking this kinswoman of mine, not because of lust, but with sincerity.
Grant that she and I may find mercy and that we may grow old together."
And they both said, "Amen, Amen." Then they went to sleep for the
night.[143]
2362 "The acts in marriage by which the intimate and chaste union of the
spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance
of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the
spouses in joy and gratitude."[144] Sexuality is a source of joy and
pleasure:
The Creator himself . . . established that in the [generative] function,
spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit.
Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and
enjoyment. They accept what the Creator has intended for them. At the same
time, spouses should know how to keep themselves within the limits of just
moderation.[145]
2363 The spouses' union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of
the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or
values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple's
spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of
the family.
The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold
obligation of fidelity and fecundity.
Conjugal fidelity
2364 The married couple forms "the intimate partnership of life and love
established by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the
conjugal covenant, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent."[146]
Both give themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no
longer two; from now on they form one flesh. The covenant they freely
contracted imposes on the spouses the obligation to preserve it as unique
and indissoluble.[147] "What therefore God has joined together, let not
man put asunder."[148]
2365 Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping one's given word. God is
faithful. The Sacrament of Matrimony enables man and woman to enter into
Christ's fidelity for his Church. Through conjugal chastity, they bear
witness to this mystery before the world.
St. John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their
wives: I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my
life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is
to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being
separated in the life reserved for us.... I place your love above all
things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a
different mind than you.[149]
The fecundity of marriage
2366 Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally
tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something
added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very
heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church,
which "is on the side of life"[150] teaches that "each and every marriage
act must remain open 'per se' to the transmission of life."[151] "This particular
doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on
the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own
initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the
procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage
act."[152]
2367 Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and
fatherhood of God.[153] "Married couples should regard it as their proper
mission to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should
realize that they are thereby cooperating with the love of God the Creator
and are, in a certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill this duty
with a sense of human and Christian responsibility."[154]
2368 A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of
procreation. For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not
motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity
appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their
behavior to the objective criteria of morality:
When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible
transmission of life, the morality of the behavior does not depend on
sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be
determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the
person and his acts criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual
self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is
possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practiced with
sincerity of heart.[155]
2369 "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the
procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true
mutual love and its orientation toward man's exalted vocation to
parenthood."[156]
2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based
on self- observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity
with the objective criteria of morality.[157] These methods respect the
bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the
education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every action which,
whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or
in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an
end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" is intrinsically
evil:[158]
Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving
of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively
contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the
other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but
also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is
called upon to give itself in personal totality.... The difference, both
anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the
rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two
irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.[159]
2371 "Let all be convinced that human life and the duty of transmitting it
are not limited by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation
and full significance can be understood only in reference to man's eternal
destiny."[160]
2372 The state has a responsibility for its citizens' well-being. In this
capacity it is legitimate for it to intervene to orient the demography of
the population. This can be done by means of objective and respectful
information, but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. The
state may not legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses, who have the
primary responsibility for the procreation and education of their
children.[161] It is not authorized to intervene in this area with means contrary to the moral law.
The gift of a child
2373 Sacred Scripture and the Church's traditional practice see in large
families a sign of God's blessing and the parents' generosity.[162]
2374 Couples who discover that they are sterile suffer greatly. "What will
you give me," asks Abraham of God, "for I continue childless?"[163] And
Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall
die!"[164]
2375 Research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged, on
condition that it is placed "at the service of the human person, of his
inalienable rights, and his true and integral good according to the design
and will of God."[165]
2376 Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the
intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum,
surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous
artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child's right to
be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by
marriage. They betray the spouses' "right to become a father and a mother
only through each other."[166]
2377 Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial
insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain
morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative
act. The act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by
which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts
the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and
biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin
and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in
itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents
and children."[167] "Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its
proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act,
that is to say, of the specific act of the spouses' union .... Only
respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect
for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity
with the dignity of the person."[168]
2378 A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The "supreme
gift of marriage" is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece
of property, an idea to which an alleged "right to a child" would lead. In
this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right "to be the
fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents," and "the
right to be respected as a person from the moment of his conception."[169]
2379 The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil.
Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate
medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord's Cross, the
source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their
generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services
for others.
Adultery
2380 Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom at
least one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even
transient ones - they commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of
mere desire.[170] The sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid
adultery absolutely.[171] The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery;
they see it as an image of the sin of idolatry.[172]
2381 Adultery is an injustice. He who commits adultery fails in his
commitment. He does injury to the sign of the covenant which the marriage
bond is, transgresses the rights of the other spouse, and undermines the
institution of marriage by breaking the contract on which it is based. He
compromises the good of human generation and the welfare of children who
need their parents' stable union.
Divorce
2382 The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who
willed that marriage be indissoluble.[173] He abrogates the accommodations
that had slipped into the old Law.[174]
Between the baptized, "a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be
dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death."[175]
2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be
legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law.[176]
If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal
rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can
be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.
2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to
break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with
each other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation,
of which sacramental marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even
if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the
remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:
If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an
adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who
lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband
to herself.[177]
2385 Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the
family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted
spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and
often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes
it truly a plague on society.
2386 It can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a
divorce decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened
the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has
sincerely tried to be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is
unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a
canonically valid marriage.[178]
Other offenses against the dignity of marriage
2387 The predicament of a man who, desiring to convert to the Gospel, is
obliged to repudiate one or more wives with whom he has shared years of
conjugal life, is understandable. However polygamy is not in accord with
the moral law." [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by
polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God which was
revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal personal
dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that
is total and therefore unique and exclusive."[179] The Christian who has
previously lived in polygamy has a grave duty in justice to honor the
obligations contracted in regard to his former wives and his children.
2388 Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws
within a degree that prohibits marriage between them.[180] St. Paul
stigmatizes this especially grave offense: "It is actually reported that
there is immorality among you . . . for a man is living with his father's
wife.... In the name of the Lord Jesus ... you are to deliver this man to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh...."[181] Incest corrupts family
relationships and marks a regression toward animality.
2389 Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on
children or adolescents entrusted to their care. The offense is compounded
by the scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the
young, who will remain scarred by it all their lives; and the violation of
responsibility for their upbringing.
2390 In a so-called free union, a man and a woman refuse to give juridical
and public form to a liaison involving sexual intimacy.
The expression "free union" is fallacious: what can "union" mean when the
partners make no commitment to one another, each exhibiting a lack of
trust in the other, in himself, or in the future?
The expression covers a number of different situations: concubinage,
rejection of marriage as such, or inability to make long-term
commitments.[182] All these situations offend against the dignity of
marriage; they destroy the very idea of the family; they weaken the sense
of fidelity. They are contrary to the moral law. The sexual act must take
place exclusively within marriage. Outside of marriage it always
constitutes a grave sin and excludes one from sacramental communion.
2391 Some today claim a "right to a trial marriage" where there is an
intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who
engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the fact is that such
liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a
relationship between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect
it from inconstancy of desires or whim."[183] Carnal union is morally
legitimate only when a definitive community of life between a man and
woman has been established. Human love does not tolerate "trial
marriages." It demands a total and definitive gift of persons to one
another.[184]
IN BRIEF
2392 "Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being"
(FC 11).
2393 By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity
equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should
acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.
2394 Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to
lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state of life.
2395 Chastity means the integration of sexuality within the person. It
includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery.
2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation,
fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.
2397 The covenant which spouses have freely entered into entails faithful
love. It imposes on them the obligation to keep their marriage
indissoluble.
2398 Fecundity is a good, a gift and an end of marriage. By giving life,
spouses participate in God's fatherhood.
2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible
fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the
spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for
example, direct sterilization or contraception).
2400 Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union are grave offenses
against the dignity of marriage.
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