Ethan Walker
The Catholic Church has a positive view of sexuality in marriage, with the Catechism of the Catholic Church describing marital intercourse as noble and honorable. It is believed that God designed sexual intercourse to unify a married couple and to participate in God's creation, with the two primary purposes of sexual intercourse being to unite the couple and to create more people. The Church teaches that sexual pleasure in marriage is good, but it should not be the sole focus. Contraception is prohibited as it deliberately goes against the possibility of conception, which is considered essential to the sacredness of the act. Catholic couples are allowed to space out births or decide not to have children, but only for serious reasons.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Catholic view on sex | Complete sexual fulfillment, including pleasure, is acceptable as long as it occurs with one's spouse of the opposite sex, to whom one is committed for life, and the couple is open to life and possible conception. |
| Contraception | Prohibited as it deliberately thwarts a possible conception and engages in sexuality under those circumstances. |
| Chastity | Refers to the successful integration of sexuality within the person. Everyone is called to chastity, with unmarried Catholics expressing it through sexual abstinence. |
| Marital intercourse | Noble and honorable, established by God so that spouses experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. |
| Marital sexuality | Has two purposes: unitive and procreative. |
| Natural Family Planning | Catholic couples can abstain from sex during the woman's fertile periods if they have legitimate reasons not to conceive a child. |
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What You'll Learn
Contraception is prohibited
The Catholic Church's stance on contraception is that it is prohibited. This is because the Church believes that sexual intercourse has a twofold unitive and procreative purpose. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "conjugal love... aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul", reflecting the love between God and humanity.
Contraception is considered to contradict this intrinsic link between sexuality and procreation, as it deliberately prevents the possibility of conception during sexual intercourse. The Church's teaching on this matter is outlined in Blessed Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which predicted negative consequences for society if contraception were widely practiced.
The Church defines chastity as "the successful integration of sexuality within the person", and it is expected of all Catholics, married or unmarried. For married couples, conjugal chastity is expressed through the unitive and procreative nature of sexual intercourse within marriage. While the Church acknowledges that sexual pleasure in marriage is good, it should not be the sole focus of the sexual act. Instead, the act of "making love" should involve mutual self-giving, reflecting God's design for marriage and the creation of new life.
The Church does allow for the spacing of births or the decision to have a smaller family, but this should be for serious reasons and not be motivated by selfishness. Natural Family Planning is a method that the Church approves of, where couples abstain from sexual activity during the woman's fertile periods if they have legitimate reasons to avoid conception.
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Sexual abstinence for unmarried Catholics
Catholic theology of sexuality is drawn from natural law, canonical scripture, divine revelation, and sacred tradition. Sexual morality evaluates sexual behaviour according to standards laid out by Catholic moral theology. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sexual intercourse has a twofold unitive and procreative purpose.
The Catholic Church defines chastity as the virtue that moderates the sexual appetite and refers to the successful integration of sexuality within the person. Everyone is called to chastity, and unmarried Catholics express chastity through sexual abstinence. Sexual intercourse within marriage is considered chaste when it retains the twofold significance of union and procreation.
The Catholic Church disapproves of pornography and believes that civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials. It also considers lust to be a sin, defined as an excessive or irrational attachment to venereal pleasure. Masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices are considered sins against chastity.
The Church teaches that sexual pleasure in marriage is good, but it should not be the sole focus. The act of "making love" involves giving oneself to another as a gift, and it should be faithful and exclusive. It should also be open to the possibility of conception, and the use of artificial contraception is considered a grave sin.
Natural Family Planning is a form of sexual abstinence within marriage that can be used for serious reasons, such as medical or physical health concerns. It involves abstaining from sexual relations during the woman's fertile periods.
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Sexual pleasure in marriage is good
The Catholic Church has always taken a positive view of sexuality in marriage. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, marital intercourse is "noble and honorable," and God intends for "spouses to experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit." This positive view of sexuality in marriage is rooted in the teachings of Jesus, as well as the Old Testament. The Book of Genesis and the Song of Songs describe the basic goodness of sexual love within marriage.
The Catholic Church teaches that sexual intercourse has a twofold unitive and procreative purpose. The unitive purpose is to unify a married couple, bringing them closer to God. The procreative purpose is to reproduce and participate in God's ongoing creation. These purposes are reflected in the Catholic definition of marriage as a lifelong union between a man and a woman, where the couple promises to support and love each other and raise children together.
The Church's stance on sexual pleasure in marriage is nuanced. While it acknowledges that pleasure is a part of intercourse, it emphasizes that pleasure should not be the sole focus. The Church makes a distinction between "having sex," which may be focused on individual pleasure, and "making love," which involves self-giving and mutual respect. In "making love," as God intended, spouses offer themselves as gifts to each other, rejoicing in their union, respecting God's design, and welcoming the potential for new life.
The Church's teaching on contraception is related to this understanding of sexual pleasure. Contraception is considered wrong because it deliberately separates sexuality from the possibility of conception, contradicting the procreative purpose of marital intercourse. However, the Church allows for natural family planning practices, where couples abstain from intercourse during the woman's fertile periods for just reasons, as long as they remain open to life and do not deliberately thwart conception.
Overall, the Catholic Church encourages married couples to embrace sexual pleasure as a gift from God, integrated with the unitive and procreative purposes of marital intercourse. This holistic approach to sexuality in marriage promotes mutual self-giving, unity with God, and the potential for new life.
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Marriage as a sacrament
The Catholic Church considers marriage a sacrament, a visible sign of God's love for the Church. When a man and a woman are married in the Church, they receive the grace needed for a lifelong bond of unity. Marriage is a sacrament of vocation, a response to a specific calling that God has placed in the hearts of a couple. It is a permanent, faithful, and fruitful bond that lasts a lifetime.
Marriage is a covenant that binds one man and one woman together under God and His Church. It is a reflection of God's self-giving love expressed between two people. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity, aiming at a deeply personal unity that leads to forming one heart and soul.
The sacrament of matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church, giving spouses the grace to love each other as Christ loved the Church. This self-giving and self-sacrificing love is exemplified in the total gift of oneself to another. Marriage is based on the consent of both spouses to give themselves mutually and definitively in a covenant of faithful and fruitful love.
Sexual intercourse within marriage is considered chaste when it retains the twofold significance of union and procreation. The Catholic Church teaches that sexual pleasure in marriage is good, but it should not be the sole focus. The Church encourages married couples to engage in sexual activities when conception is not possible, but it prohibits deliberately thwarting a possible conception during fertile periods.
The sacrament of marriage is a divine covenant that cannot be broken. It is a reflection of the permanent "marital bond" between Christ and the Church, symbolizing Christ's self-giving love for humanity.
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The Church's view on pornography
The Catholic Church has a very clear stance on pornography, which it considers to be wrong and sinful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines pornography as:
> removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties.
The Catechism gives three reasons why pornography is sinful:
- It offends against the virtue of chastity, which involves the integration of one's physical and spiritual being, and respect for the holy state of marriage.
- It offends the dignity of the participants (actors, vendors, the public), as each one is exploited or exploits others in some way for personal pleasure or gain.
- It is an act of spiritual adultery, which leads to the spiritual disintegration of the person and may lead to physical adultery or other illicit sexual acts.
The Church believes that pornography has a devastating impact on society, particularly on women and children. It teaches that women enjoy "forced" or perverse sexual activity, and that it is normal to regard women as sex objects to be used for self-gratification. It also portrays sexual activity outside of marriage as acceptable without the responsibility of conceiving a human life. The Church also recognises the addictive nature of pornography and its negative impact on relationships, both with God and with others.
The Church disapproves of pornography and believes that civil authorities should prevent its production and distribution.
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Frequently asked questions
The Catholic Church teaches that sexual intercourse has a two-fold purpose: to unify a married couple and to participate in God's ongoing creation. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "conjugal love...aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul." The Church affirms that marital intercourse is "noble and honorable," and that spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit.
No, Catholic couples should not give up sex. The Church has a positive view of sexuality in marriage, and believes that sex is a gift from God that helps unify a married couple and is also meant for reproduction. However, seeking pleasure for its own sake is discouraged as it reduces human existence to a piece of entertainment.
The Catholic Church disapproves of contraception as it deliberately thwarts a possible conception and is seen as having a "contralife will." Prohibited acts with a contraceptive effect include sterilization, condoms, the Pill, and all other similar methods. However, the Church acknowledges that couples can plan their families sensibly and decide to space births or not have more children for serious reasons of health, emotional factors, and finances.
