Vatican City, Nov 25, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new Vatican document defends marriage as a monogamous relationship amid the growing popularity of polyamory and addresses the pastoral challenges caused by conversion to Catholicism of people in polygamous situations.

“One Flesh: In Praise of Monogamy” was published in Italian by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Nov. 25.

“Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in the succession of partners,” the Vatican says.

To illustrate this metaphorically, the text cites the myth of Don Juan, an unbridled seducer whose womanizing leads him to hell, which demonstrates that “multiplying partners in a supposed total union means fragmenting the meaning of marital love.”

The text also draws on the writing of poets Walt Whitman, Pablo Neruda, Rabindranath Tagore, and Emily Dickinson, as well as philosophers such as the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

The document, signed by Pope Leo XIV, does not address the indissolubility of marriage or the purpose of procreation but focuses on the unitive aspect of marriage: “A communion of love and life shared by both spouses, a communion that is not oriented solely toward procreation but also toward the integral good of both.”

The text originated from a request made during the Synod on Synodality for African bishops to prepare a statement on polygamy. African bishops themselves asked the Holy See for guidance on the issue, the doctrine dicastery said earlier this month.

In the Nov. 25 document, the dicastery says it also wanted to provide a deeper reflection on monogamy in the face of growing “public forms of nonmonogamous unions — sometimes called ‘polyamory’” — in the West.

The Vatican’s doctrinal note emphasizes that “properly understood, monogamy is not simply the opposite of polygamy.”

Drawing from the teachings of St. John Paul II, the Vatican affirms that “only monogamy guarantees that sexuality develops within a framework of recognizing the other as a subject with whom one shares one’s life entirely, a subject who is an end in himself and never a means to one’s own needs. Sexual union, which involves the whole person, can treat the other as a person, that is, as a co-subject of love and not an object of use, only if it develops within the framework of a unique and exclusive belonging.”

“Those who give themselves fully and completely to the other can only be two,” the text states, after noting that in nonmonogamous relationships everyone “would be treated as means and not as persons.”

Sexuality: Total and open to life

The text makes it clear that placing sexuality within the framework of a love that “unites spouses in a single friendship” does not imply a “devaluation of sexual pleasure.” Rather, “by orienting it toward self-giving, it is not only enriched but also enhanced.”

Thus, “sexuality is no longer the release of an immediate need but a personal choice that expresses the totality of the person.”

The Vatican criticizes contemporary culture that reduces sexuality to consumption: “Various problems have arisen from an excessive and uncontrolled pursuit of sex, or from the simple denial of its procreative purpose.”

Therefore, the Vatican defends openness to life in sexual union as a form of expression of “conjugal charity” without requiring that every act explicitly have that purpose.

On an anthropological level, the document insists that “the defense of monogamy is also a defense of the dignity of women,” since “the unity of marriage implies, therefore, a free choice on the part of the woman, who has the right to demand exclusive reciprocity.”

The document also addresses sexual violence, which it says proliferates on social media, and invites Catholics to provide education on “faithful and monogamous love.”

“Education in monogamy is not a moral restriction but rather an initiation into the grandeur of a love that transcends immediacy,” it says.

Theological foundations and spiritual tradition

The text offers a broad overview of the Christian tradition that has upheld and reflected upon marital unity. It quotes popes and Church fathers, including St. John Chrysostom, who saw in marital unity an antidote to “unbridled sexual abandon, without love or fidelity.”

Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the text also considers the challenges for those who, desiring to convert to the Catholic faith, must navigate complex family situations. In addition to Africa, the document cites Asia, specifically India, where “monogamy has generally been the norm and has been considered an ideal in married life,” but polygamous relationships have also been present.

Africa’s Catholic bishops issued a document earlier this year with six pastoral guidelines for how to welcome people in polygamous situations into the Church, both while upholding Church teaching on marriage and not leaving women and children vulnerable to abandonment and poverty.

At the Aug. 4 assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in Kigali, Rwanda, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Cameroon’s Bamenda Catholic Archdiocese clarified that during the deliberations at the Synod on Synodality, “polygamy was not brought up as an African concept to be approved. It was brought up as a challenge to Christian marriage in Africa.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA. Hannah Brockhaus contributed to this report.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The foundation of sacramental marriage is the unity of the spouses, a bond so intense and grace-filled that it is exclusive and indissoluble, said a document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The document, "'Una Caro' (One Flesh): In Praise of Monogamy. Doctrinal Note on the Value of Marriage as an Exclusive Union and Mutual Belonging," was released only in Italian by the Vatican Nov. 25. Pope Leo XIV approved its contents Nov. 21 and authorized its publication.

"Although each marital union is a unique reality, embodied within human limitations, every authentic marriage is a unity composed of two individuals, requiring a relationship so intimate and all-encompassing that it cannot be shared with others," the document said. 

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, wrote in the document's introduction that the dicastery wanted to draw from Scripture, theology, philosophy and "even poetry" to explain why it is best to choose "a unique and exclusive union of love, a reciprocal belonging that is rich and all-embracing."

The poets quoted included Walt Whitman, Pablo Neruda, Emily Dickinson and Rabindranath Tagore.

The dicastery said it issued the note in response to requests from the bishops of Africa where polygamy is still practiced as well as because "various public forms of non-monogamous unions -- sometimes called 'polyamory' -- are growing in the West."

"Polygamy, adultery or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of a relationship can be found in the succession of faces," the document said. But "as the myth of Don Juan illustrates, numbers dissolve the names; they disperse the unity of the loving impulse."

While the church, its theologians, pastors and canon lawyers have written much about the indissolubility of the marriage bond, the note said, there has been less official reflection "on the unity of marriage -- meaning marriage understood as a unique and exclusive union between one man and one woman." 

The doctrinal dicastery insisted that sacramental marriage is forever and that openness to procreation is an essential part of marriage, but it also said the purpose of the doctrinal note was to focus primarily on the unitive aspect of marriage.

While there are examples of polygamy in the Old Testament, many other passages celebrate the love found in an exclusive, monogamous relationship, it said. And the Song of Songs uses the language of a lover and beloved allegorically to refer to the relationship of God with his people -- a relationship that is unique and exclusive.

In the Gospels, it said, Jesus exalts faithful, lifelong monogamy, pointing back to God's "original plan" that a man and a woman would become "one flesh."

The document has a long section on what popes and Christian theologians -- from the early church to modern times -- have said and written about marriage.

Unlike other early theologians, it said, St. John Chrysostom did not emphasize procreation as a primary purpose for marriage but wrote that "the unity of marriage, through the choice of a single person to whom one is joined, serves to free people from an unrestrained sexual outlet devoid of love or fidelity, and properly directs sexuality."

Until Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical on marriage in 1880, the popes did not write much about matrimony, the document said. 

In that encyclical, it said, the pope's defense of monogamy was in part "a defense of the dignity of women, which cannot be denied or dishonored even for the sake of procreation. The unity of marriage therefore implies a free choice on the part of the woman, who has the right to demand exclusive reciprocity."

Because marriage is a union between a man and a woman "who possess exactly the same dignity and the same rights," the document said, "it demands that exclusivity which prevents the other from being relativized in their unique value or being used merely as a means among others to satisfy needs."

In the Latin-rite sacrament of matrimony, it noted, "consent is expressed by saying: 'I take you as my wife,' and 'I take you as my husband.' In this regard, following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, it must be said that consent is a 'human act by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another.'"

"This act, 'which binds the spouses to each other,' is a giving and a receiving: it is the dynamism that gives rise to mutual belonging, called to deepen, to mature and to become ever more solid," the doctrinal note said. 

How that belonging to one another in an exclusive way is lived out may change over time, "when physical attraction and the possibility of sexual relations weaken," the document said, but it does not end.

"Naturally, various intimate expressions of affection will not be lacking, and these are also considered exclusive," it said. "Precisely because the experience of reciprocal and exclusive belonging has deepened and strengthened over time, there are expressions that are reserved only for that person with whom one has chosen to share one's heart in a unique way."

"The mutual belonging proper to exclusive, reciprocal love implies a delicate care, a holy fear of profaning the freedom of the other, who has the same dignity and therefore the same rights," the note said.

The unique friendship of spouses, it said, is "full of mutual knowledge, appreciation of the other, complicity, intimacy, understanding and patience, concern for the good of the other and sensitive gestures."

That friendship " transcends sexuality," but "at the same time embraces it and gives it its most beautiful, profound, unifying and fruitful meaning," the document said.
 

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The doctrinal Note Una caro. In Praise of Monogamy has been published, exploring the value of marriage as an “exclusive union and mutual belonging.” It highlights the importance of conjugal charity and attentiveness to the poor, and condemns all forms of violence, both physical and psychological. In an individualistic and consumerist age, young people must be educated to understand love as responsibility and trust in the other.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 24, 2025 / 17:41 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church is facing a new wave of violence in Africa: In Nigeria, 265 students from a Catholic school remain captive after being kidnapped last week while an archbishop in Cameroon is threatening to close parishes if a kidnapped priest is not released.

In Nigeria, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora told Fides: “The kidnappers are almost certainly criminals seeking illicit gain by demanding a ransom.”

An official statement from the diocese, published on Nov. 23, reported that 50 minors managed to escape and reunite with their families after fleeing between Friday and Saturday following the attack. These developments were confirmed through visits and phone calls with their relatives, the statement said.

However, of the 315 people initially captured, “265 remain in the hands of the kidnappers, of whom 239 are children, 14 are high school students, and 12 are members of the school staff,” the diocesan statement specified.

The institution serves 430 primary school students (377 boarders and 53 day students) and 199 secondary school students, figures that, according to the diocese, “are important in helping the public understand the scale of the incident and the extensive efforts underway to account for every missing child and staff member.”

Cameroon archbishop demands release of kidnapped priest

The archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, announced that “if Father John is not released before Nov. 26, the churches in the deanery will be closed” as a measure to pressure for the release of parish priest John Berinyuy Tatah, who was kidnapped on Nov. 15 by armed men in northeastern Cameroon along with his vicar.

The faithful were informed of the possible closures in an official message read on Sunday, Nov. 23, in all parishes, the Vatican news agency Fides reported.

Nkea explained that if the priest remains in the hands of his captors by that date, the parishes, schools, and Catholic institutions of the Ndop deanery will be closed. “Priests will be evacuated for their safety, and the Blessed Sacrament will be removed from the churches.”

Furthermore, he warned that if the priest continues to be held captive on Nov. 28, the archbishop, the clergy, and lay faithful will march to the village of Baba I, where he is believed to be held, “and will either bring him back home or remain there until he is released,” Fides reported.

The prelate denounced the frequent kidnappings of priests and pastoral workers, stating that the perpetrators “have put us against the wall, and all of this must end immediately,” noting that many laypeople have also suffered torture, violence, and extortion.

According to Fides, the kidnapping was carried out by armed separatists who have proclaimed the so-called “Republic of Ambazonia” in the English-speaking northeast and southeast regions of the country. The rest of Cameroon is French-speaking.

Bishop Barron: ‘The persecution is real and we must react’

The situation in Nigeria has caused international outrage. The bishop of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota, Robert Barron, recently referred to the wave of attacks against Catholic communities, noting that what has happened is part of “an ongoing and long-standing persecution.”

“Over the last 10 years, I think 100,000 Christians have been murdered, tens of thousands of churches burned, [and there has been a] huge displacement of the Christian population,” he said on X.

After explaining that in the middle parts of the country the attacks on Christians may be motivated by a mixture of religious, tribal, or economic reasons, Barron said he did not want the appeal to mixed motives as an excuse for inaction.

“Are the motives of the persecutors mixed? Sure, I’ll grant you that. There are economic or tribal elements, of course. But my overall point is: Who cares? What matters here is that our brother and sister Christians are being brutally mistreated.”

Barron also appealed to the international Christian community: “Our connections in Christ to one another are deeper than our national identity.” Christians must pray, speak out, raise awareness, and ask our representatives to act, he said.

The bishop also emphasized that Nigeria today is “a flourishing Church” in vocations and vitality. “Am I surprised that that Church especially is undergoing a very vicious persecution? No. The more successful a Church becomes, the more on fire with Christ it becomes, the more it attracts the attention of the enemy.”

Call for calm and prayer

The Diocese of Kontagora assured that it is “fully committed to the safe rescue of those still in captivity” and reported that it continues to work with the police, authorities, and families.

It also asked the faithful to remain calm, continue praying, and support the ongoing efforts.

Meanwhile, in Cameroon, Nkea once again called on the authorities to stop the abuses against the population and demanded that the priest and all kidnapping victims be returned home as soon as possible.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

EWTN News, Nov 24, 2025 / 16:08 pm (CNA).

Three German bishops have publicly distanced themselves from the German Bishops’ Conference’s new document on “diversity of sexual identities” for schools, further escalating the dispute over how Catholic education should address gender identity.

At the center of the controversy is the 48-page text “Geschaffen, erlöst und geliebt: Sichtbarkeit und Anerkennung der Vielfalt sexueller Identitäten in der Schule” (“Created, Redeemed, and Loved: Visibility and Recognition of the Diversity of Sexual Identities in the School”).

Published on Oct. 30 by the bishops’ conference’s Commission for Education and Schools, the document is intended to serve as an orientation aid for Catholic and other schools in Germany. Due to internal discussions last summer, the orientation text was initially withheld and revised.

Based on the premise that “the diversity of sexual identities is a fact,” the text urges schools to foster an environment free of discrimination for students, staff, and parents who identify as queer. The document calls on students to respect the self-identification and self-designation of classmates who identify as queer and to support initiatives that highlight their situation.

The English word “queer” is frequently used by some German organizations, including certain dioceses, as an umbrella term for people who identify as LGBT.

In his foreword, commission chair Bishop Heinrich Timmerevers of Dresden-Meissen stresses that the text does not claim to offer a full moral-theological evaluation. Rather, it is intended to provide school-pastoral and pedagogical guidelines rooted in contemporary human sciences.

Teachers are encouraged to use language that reflects “the diversity of sexual identities.” In religion classes, teachers should present disputed questions of sexual morality as such, allowing students to form their own judgments.

Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau issued the most detailed response. In an online commentary, he acknowledged concerns about vulnerable young people but said he “fully” distanced himself from the document’s presuppositions and its theological, philosophical, pedagogical, and developmental psychological approach.

Although the booklet is published under the name “The German Bishops,” Oster insists that it does not speak for him and warns that it promotes an anthropology that effectively desacralizes the Christian understanding of the human person.

Since then, Regensburg’s bishop, Rudolf Voderholzer, has aligned himself explicitly with Oster’s critique. His diocese republished the Passau text as a “critical analysis” of the central theses, and Voderholzer accused the bishops’ conference leadership of pushing the paper through almost unchanged despite requests for revisions in the Standing Council. The Regensburg response spoke of an “agenda” being pursued “in our name.”

The Standing Council is the German Bishops’ Conference’s governing body where all 27 diocesan bishops meet five to six times per year to handle ongoing business and coordinate between the less-frequent plenary assemblies.

The third critical response came from Cologne. The archdiocese, led by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, released a statement rejecting all forms of discrimination in Catholic schools. Regarding the theological and anthropological assessment of “Geschaffen, erlöst und geliebt,” however, the archdiocese said it “aligns itself” with Oster’s commentary.

Other voices have contributed to the mixed reception. Thomas Maria Renz, the Rottenburg auxiliary bishop and vice chair of the school commission, welcomed the effort to protect vulnerable youth. However, he warned against a “naive” endorsement of every form of adolescent self-description during development. He called for a stronger focus on broader educational goals.

For now, the document remains officially in force as an orientation aid of the bishops’ conference. However, the open opposition of three diocesan bishops has turned it into a key issue in the broader struggle over the Church’s reform efforts in Germany, particularly with regard to sexuality and anthropology.

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 24, 2025 / 15:38 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV stated that hope “does not mean having all the answers, but rather it calls us to put our trust in God.”

The pontiff made his remarks during an audience granted Nov. 24 at the Vatican to faithful from Latvia, who traveled to the Eternal City to commemorate the centenary of the first official Latvian pilgrimage to Rome.

After greeting Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, with whom he had met privately earlier, the Holy Father thanked the pilgrims for keeping the tradition alive and following in the footsteps “of your forebears in the faith.”

He then recalled that Rome “has always been a home for all Christians, since it is here that the great apostles Peter and Paul gave the supreme witness to the Gospel by becoming martyrs for the faith.”

The Holy Father also recalled Pope Francis’ visit to the country in 2018, on the occasion of the centenary of the nation’s independence, where he spoke “of the difficulties your country experienced in the past.”

“While the current conflict in your region may evoke memories of those turbulent times,” Leo said, “it is important for all of us to turn to God and to be strengthened by God’s grace when faced with such tribulation.”

Recalling Francis’ words, Leo emphasized the “vital role the Christian faith played in your country’s history.” He expressed gratitude for the bond between Latvia and the Holy See, whose relations have grown closer in recent years.

The Holy Father also affirmed that it is necessary to unite with hope “the virtue of faith in order to keep our eyes on the present and see the many ways that God is blessing us here and now.”

In this regard, he explained that a pilgrimage “has an important role in our life of faith for it gives us the time and space to encounter God more deeply.”

“It takes us away from the routine and noise of everyday life,” he added, “and offers the space and silence to hear God’s voice more clearly.”

Finally, he encouraged them to share what they experienced in Rome when they return home, because, he affirmed, “a pilgrimage does not end but its seeds should take root in your daily discipleship and bear fruit in your lives.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.