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A new Vatican document, signed by Pope Leo XIV, formally defends monogamy while issuing a warning against the increasing presence of polyamory in Western societies. The text firmly asserts that marriage is defined as a stable, lifelong, and exclusive partnership solely between a man and a woman. This initiative also follows discussions with Roman Catholic bishops in Africa, where polygamy has been identified as a "pastoral challenge" for the church and was addressed in Vatican synods in both 2023 and 2024.
Polygamy tends to refer to one man with multiple wives, while polyamory involves people having multiple consensual romantic relationships at once.
“Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in a succession of faces,” states the doctrinal note, titled “One Flesh – In Praise of Monogamy.”
“Our age, in fact, is experiencing various drifts with regard to love: an increase in divorces, the fragility of unions, the trivialization of adultery, and the promotion of polyamory.”
The 40-page document emphasizes the importance of marriage between man and a woman, with Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office, saying it is aimed at setting out the reasons for “the choice of a unique and exclusive union of love, a rich and total belonging to one another.”
The note also says it is highlighting a development in the church’s understanding of sex within marriage: namely that it is about more than having children.
In Catholic understanding, sex within marriage has two aspects: the “unitive,” which brings the couple closer together and can reflect divine love, and the “procreative,” meaning having children. Catholic teaching forbids the use of artificial contraception – a prohibition upheld by recent popes but which has been hotly debated and rejected by some in the church.
The latest doctrinal note says that “unity is the founding property” of marriage and that the “unitive purpose of sexuality… is not limited to ensuring procreation.”
