{"id":10034,"date":"2025-12-02T20:51:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=10034"},"modified":"2025-12-02T20:51:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:51:36","slug":"vatican-issues-statement-against-polygamy-polyamory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2025\/12\/vatican-issues-statement-against-polygamy-polyamory.html","title":{"rendered":"Vatican Issues Statement Against Polygamy, Polyamory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Diliff \/ commons.wikimedia.org | Right: Renee Terp \/ Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A recent statement from the Vatican rejected any affirming doctrinal stance towards polygamy and polyamory. The decree<\/a>, issued in Italian, was entitled \u201cU NA CARO [one flesh]: In Praise of Monogamy.\u201d It stated that marriage requires \u201cunity and indissolubility\u201d and that a monogamous marriage \u201ccan be defined as the unique and exclusive union between one woman and one man, in other words, as the mutual belonging of the two, which cannot be shared with others.\u201d It had harsh words against polygamy, stating it is \u201cin opposition with moral law. It radically contradicts conjugal communion.\u201d \u201cThere is no place for some form of polyandry, no polygamy,\u201d the document said, and cited St. Thomas Aquinas, who equated polygamy as \u201ca form of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polygamy is a major problem in some African communities, where polygamy is still widely practiced. The Catholic Church, according to Cardinal V\u00edctor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez at a press conference, rather than condemning its African congregations, would like to work alongside them and that the purpose of the document is not to \u201cgo against polygamy, but to cultivate monogamy.\u201d The document also addressed \u201cdifferent public forms of non-monogamous unions \u2014 sometimes called \u2018polyamory\u2019 \u2014 that are growing in the West.\u201d It is the first time the Catholic church has acknowledged such alternative living styles. \u201cMonogamy is not simply the opposite of polygamy. It is much more, and its deepening allows a conception of marriage in all of its richness and fertility,\u201d while sex in marriage \u201cis not limited to ensuring procreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement also affirmed the goodness of sexual pleasure within marriage. \u00a0\u201cWe cannot ignore that in recent decades, in the context of postmodern consumerist individualism, various problems have arisen from an excessive and uncontrolled pursuit of sex, or from the simple denial of the procreative purpose of sexuality,\u201d the document stated. \u201cA peculiarity of recent decades is the explicit denial of the unitive purpose of sexuality and of marriage itself. This is especially due to feelings of anxiety, of always being busy, of wanting more free time for oneself, of being constantly obsessed with traveling and discovering new places,” it continued. \u201cAs a result, the desire for emotional exchange, for sexual relations themselves, but also for dialogue and cooperation, disappears, as these things are seen as ‘stressful.’\u201d It also noted that monogamous relationships protect women. \u201cThe unity of marriage therefore implies a free choice on the part of women, who have the right to demand exclusive reciprocity.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent statement from the Vatican rejected any affirming doctrinal stance towards polygamy and polyamory. The decree, issued in Italian, was entitled \u201cU NA CARO [one flesh]: In Praise of Monogamy.\u201d It stated that marriage requires \u201cunity and indissolubility\u201d and that a monogamous marriage \u201ccan be defined as the unique and exclusive union between one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":10037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nVatican Issues Statement Against Polygamy, Polyamory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Vatican reaffirms monogamy, rejecting polygamy and polyamory as contrary to moral law, calling marriage a union of one man and one woman.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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