A document released by the Catholic Church at the end of November emphasizes that sexual acts “are not limited to ensuring procreation, but contribute to enriching and strengthening the unique and exclusive union and the feeling of mutual belonging”, thus recognizing a “unitive purpose of sexuality”.
The doctrinal note signed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was released with the approval of Pope Leo XIV. It is a Catholic defense of the monogamous union between man and woman and was published only in Italian.
In the text, it can be read that “in recent decades”, due to the “context of post-modern consumerist individualism”, several problems have originated from the “excessive and uncontrolled search for sex or the simple denial of the procreative purpose of sexuality”.
The note also highlights that there was also an “explicit denial of the unitive purpose of sexuality and marriage itself”, encouraging “the desire for emotional exchange, through sexual relations themselves, but also through dialogue and cooperation”.
The document states that an “integral vision of conjugal charity” is one that “does not deny its fecundity”, but that “sexual union, as a form of expression of conjugal charity”, although “it must naturally remain open to the communication of life”, does not need to have the “explicit objective of each sexual act”.
In this sense, the text presents three possibilities: the sexual life of couples who cannot have children; that a couple does not consciously seek a particular sexual act as a means of procreation; and respect for “natural periods of infertility”, which can serve not only to regulate birth rates, but also to choose the most appropriate moments to welcome a new life”.
The note emphasizes that “the couple can take advantage of these periods as a manifestation of affection and to safeguard mutual fidelity”, demonstrating “a truly and completely honest love”.
This stance is not completely new in Catholic documents, but tradition, expressed in older manuals, points to many recommendations for abstaining from sexual practices, even within marriage.