A “succession of faces” does not rival the exclusive union of one man and one woman, a new document approved by the Pope says
The Vatican has warned Catholics against polygamy, insisting that real marriage is a lifelong and exclusive union of one man and one woman.
In a new doctrinal note backing monogamy signed by Pope Leo XIV and released on Tuesday, the Vatican rejected both polygamy and polyamory, saying these practices rely on “the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in the succession of faces.”
The document said that “various public forms of non-monogamous unions – sometimes called ‘polyamory’ – are growing in the West.” It argued that every genuine marriage is a union of two people “of exactly the same dignity and the same rights” and therefore demands exclusivity.
It framed both polyamory and polygamy as incompatible with the equal dignity and mutual belonging that the Catholic Church considers essential to marriage.
The Vatican said the note responds to pastoral concerns raised by church leaders, especially in African regions where polygamous marriages are common. In recent years African bishops at Vatican meetings and during official visits have warned that polygamy remains widespread among Catholics and asked Rome for clearer guidance.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez said the document aimed not only to criticize polygamy but to “praise the value of monogamy,” highlighting its theological, philosophical and historical grounding.
”Those who truly love know that the other person cannot be a means to an end, and that one’s own void must be filled in other ways, never through dominating the spouse,” he said. “This is what happens in many forms of unhealthy desire that lead to manifestations of explicit or subtle violence, oppression, psychological pressure, control, suffocation, to which infidelity is often added.”
Fernandez previously wrote one of the most contentious documents of Pope Francis’ papacy, a 2023 declaration permitting Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. The move prompted an unprecedented response from African bishops, who issued a joint statement refusing to implement it.
The new decree does not address other debated issues such as same-sex relationships or divorce. Instead, it focuses solely on reasserting lifelong monogamy as the only acceptable framework for marriage under Catholic Church teaching.
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