Persona Humana:
Declaration On Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics
Sacred Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith
December 29th, 1975
I
According to contemporary scientific research, the human person
is so profoundly affected by sexuality that it must be considered as one of the
factors which give to each individual's life the principal traits that
distinguish it. In fact it is from sex that the human person receives the
characteristics which, on the biological, psychological and spiritual levels,
make that person a man or a woman, and thereby largely condition his or her
progress towards maturity and insertion into society. Hence sexual matters, as
is obvious to everyone, today constitute a theme frequently and openly dealt
with in books, reviews, magazines and other means of social communication.
In the present period, the corruption of morals has increased, and one of the
most serious indications of this corruption is the unbridled exaltation of sex.
Moreover, through the means of social communication and through public
entertainment this corruption has reached the point of invading the field of
education and of infecting the general mentality.
In this context certain educators, teachers and moralists have been able to
contribute to a better understanding and integration into life of the values
proper to each of the sexes; on the other hand there are those who have put
forward concepts and modes of behavior which are contrary to the true moral
exigencies of the human person. Some members of the latter group have even gone
so far as to favor a licentious hedonism.
As a result, in the course of a few years, teachings, moral criteria and modes
of living hitherto faithfully preserved have been very much unsettled, even
among Christians. There are many people today who, being confronted with
widespread opinions opposed to the teaching which they received from the Church,
have come to wonder what must still hold as true.
II
The Church cannot remain indifferent to this confusion of minds
and relaxation of morals. It is a question, in fact, of a matter which is of the
utmost importance both for the personal lives of Christians and for the social
life of our time.[1]
The Bishops are daily led to note the growing difficulties experienced by the
faithful in obtaining knowledge of wholesome moral teaching, especially in
sexual matters, and of the growing difficulties experienced by pastors in
expounding this teaching effectively. The Bishops know that by their pastoral
charge they are called upon to meet the needs of their faithful in this very
serious matter, and important documents dealing with it have already been
published by some of them or by episcopal conferences. Nevertheless, since the
erroneous opinions and resulting deviations are continuing to spread everywhere,
the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by virtue of its function
in the universal Church[2] and by a mandate of the Supreme Pontiff, has judged
it necessary to publish the present Declaration.
III
The people of our time are more and more convinced that the
human person's dignity and vocation demand that they should discover, by the
light of their own intelligence, the values innate in their nature, that they
should ceaselessly develop these values and realize them in their lives, in
order to achieve an ever greater development.
In moral matters man cannot make value judgments according to his personal whim:
"In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose on
himself, but which holds him to obedience. . . . For man has in his heart a law
written by God. To obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will
be judged."[3]
Moreover, through His revelation God has made known to us Christians His plan of
salvation, and He has held up to us Christ, the Savior and Sanctifier, in His
teaching and example, as the supreme and immutable Law of life: "I am the light
of the world; anyone who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, he will
have the light of life."[4]
Therefore there can be no true promotion of man's dignity unless the essential
order of his nature is respected. Of course, in the history of civilization many
of the concrete conditions and needs of human life have changed and will
continue to change. But all evolution of morals and every type of life must be
kept within the limits imposed by the immutable principles based upon every
human person's constitutive elements and essential relations - elements and
relations which transcend historical contingency.
These fundamental principles, which can be grasped by reason, are contained in
"the Divine Law - eternal, objective and universal - whereby God orders, directs
and governs the entire universe and all the ways of the human community, by a
plan conceived in wisdom and love. Man has been made by God to participate in
this law, with the result that, under the gentle disposition of Divine
Providence, he can come to perceive ever increasingly the unchanging truth."[5]
This Divine Law is accessible to our minds.
IV
Hence, those many people are in error who today assert that one
can find neither in human nature nor in the revealed law any absolute and
immutable norm to serve for particular actions other than the one which
expresses itself in the general law of charity and respect for human dignity. As
a proof of their assertion they put forward the view that so-called norms of the
natural law or precepts of Sacred Scripture are to be regarded only as given
expressions of a form of particular culture at a certain moment of history.
But in fact, Divine Revelation and, in its own proper order, philosophical
wisdom, emphasize the authentic exigencies of human nature. They thereby
necessarily manifest the existence of immutable laws inscribed in the
constitutive elements of human nature and which are revealed to be identical in
all beings endowed with reason.
Furthermore, Christ instituted His Church as "the pillar and bulwark of
truth."[6] With the Holy Spirit's assistance, she ceaselessly preserves and
transmits without error the truths of the moral order, and she authentically
interprets not only the revealed positive law but "also . . . those principles
of the moral order which have their origin in human nature itself"[7] and which
concern man's full development and sanctification. Now in fact the Church
throughout her history has always considered a certain number of precepts of the
natural law as having an absolute and immutable value, and in their
transgression she has seen a contradiction of the teaching and spirit of the
Gospel.
V
Since sexual ethics concern fundamental values of human and
Christian life, this general teaching equally applies to sexual ethics. In this
domain there exist principles and norms which the Church has always
unhesitatingly transmitted as part of her teaching, however much the opinions
and morals of the world may have been opposed to them. These principles and
norms in no way owe their origin to a certain type of culture, but rather to
knowledge of the Divine Law and of human nature. They therefore cannot be
considered as having become out of date or doubtful under the pretext that a new
cultural situation has arisen.
It is these principles which inspired the exhortations and directives given by
the Second Vatican Council for an education and an organization of social life
taking account of the equal dignity of man and woman while respecting their
difference.[8]
Speaking of "the sexual nature of man and the human faculty of procreation," the
Council noted that they "wonderfully exceed the dispositions of lower forms of
life."[9] It then took particular care to expound the principles and criteria
which concern human sexuality in marriage, and which are based upon the finality
of the specific function of sexuality.
In this regard the Council declares that the moral goodness of the acts proper
to conjugal life, acts which are ordered according to true human dignity, "does
not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives. It must
be determined by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human
person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human
procreation in the context of true love."[10]
These final words briefly sum up the Council's teaching - more fully expounded
in an earlier part of the same Constitution[11] - on the finality of the sexual
act and on the principal criterion of its morality: it is respect for its
finality that ensures the moral goodness of this act.
This same principle, which the Church holds from Divine Revelation and from her
authentic interpretation of the natural law, is also the basis of her
traditional doctrine, which states that the use of the sexual function has its
true meaning and moral rectitude only in true marriage.[12]
VI
It is not the purpose of the present Declaration to deal with all the abuses of the sexual faculty, nor with all the elements involved in the practice of chastity. Its object is rather to repeat the Church's doctrine on certain particular points, in view of the urgent need to oppose serious errors and widespread aberrant modes of behavior.
VII
Today there are many who vindicate the right to sexual union
before marriage, at least in those cases where a firm intention to marry and an
affection which is already in some way conjugal in the psychology of the
subjects require this completion, which they judge to be connatural. This is
especially the case when the celebration of the marriage is impeded by
circumstances or when this intimate relationship seems necessary in order for
love to be preserved.
This opinion is contrary to Christian doctrine, which states that every genital
act must be within the framework of marriage. However firm the intention of
those who practice such premature sexual relations may be, the fact remains that
these relations cannot ensure, in sincerity and fidelity, the interpersonal
relationship between a man and a woman, nor especially can they protect this
relationship from whims and caprices. Now it is a stable union that Jesus
willed, and He restored its original requirement, beginning with the sexual
difference. "Have you not read that the Creator from the beginning made them
male and female and that He said: This is why a man must leave father and
mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer
two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not
divide."[13] St. Paul will be even more explicit when he shows that if unmarried
people or widows cannot live chastely they have no other alternative than the
stable union of marriage: ". . .it is better to marry than to be aflame with
passion."[14] Through marriage, in fact, the love of married people is taken up
into that love which Christ irrevocably has for the Church,[15] while dissolute
sexual union[16] defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit which the Christian has
become. Sexual union therefore is only legitimate if a definitive community of
life has been established between the man and the woman.
This is what the Church has always understood and taught,[17] and she finds a
profound agreement with her doctrine in men's reflection and in the lessons of
history.
Experience teaches us that love must find its safeguard in the stability of
marriage, if sexual intercourse is truly to respond to the requirements of its
own finality and to those of human dignity. These requirements call for a
conjugal contract sanctioned and guaranteed by society - a contract which
establishes a state of life of capital importance both for the exclusive union
of the man and the woman and for the good of their family and of the human
community. Most often, in fact, premarital relations exclude the possibility of
children. What is represented to be conjugal love is not able, as it absolutely
should be, to develop into paternal and maternal love. Or, if it does happen to
do so, this will be to the detriment of the children, who will be deprived of
the stable environment in which they ought to develop in order to find in it the
way and the means of their insertion into society as a whole.
The consent given by people who wish to be united in marriage must therefore be
manifested externally and in a manner which makes it valid in the eyes of
society. As far as the faithful are concerned, their consent to the setting up
of a community of conjugal life must be expressed according to the laws of the
Church. It is a consent which makes their marriage a Sacrament of Christ.
VIII
At the present time there are those who, basing themselves on
observations in the psychological order, have begun to judge indulgently, and
even to excuse completely, homosexual relations between certain people. This
they do in opposition to the constant teaching of the Magisterium and to the
moral sense of the Christian people.
A distinction is drawn, and it seems with some reason, between homosexuals whose
tendency comes from a false education, from a lack of normal sexual development,
from habit, from bad example, or from other similar causes, and is transitory or
at least not incurable; and homosexuals who are definitively such because of
some kind of innate instinct or a pathological constitution judged to be
incurable.
In regard to this second category of subjects, some people conclude that their
tendency is so natural that it justifies in their case homosexual relations
within a sincere communion of life and love analogous to marriage, in so far as
such homosexuals feel incapable of enduring a solitary life.
In the pastoral field, these homosexuals must certainly be treated with
understanding and sustained in the hope of overcoming their personal
difficulties and their inability to fit into society. Their culpability will be
judged with prudence. But no pastoral method can be employed which would give
moral justification to these acts on the grounds that they would be consonant
with the condition of such people. For according to the objective moral order,
homosexual relations are acts which lack an essential and indispensable
finality. In Sacred Scripture they are condemned as a serious depravity and even
presented as the sad consequence of rejecting God.[18] This judgment of
Scripture does not of course permit us to conclude that all those who suffer
from this anomaly are personally responsible for it, but it does attest to the
fact that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and can in no case be
approved of.
IX
The traditional Catholic doctrine that masturbation constitutes
a grave moral disorder is often called into doubt or expressly denied today. It
is said that psychology and sociology show that it is a normal phenomenon of
sexual development, especially among the young. It is stated that there is real
and serious fault only in the measure that the subject deliberately indulges in
solitary pleasure closed in on self ("ipsation"), because in this case the act
would indeed be radically opposed to the loving communion between persons of
different sex which some hold is what is principally sought in the use of the
sexual faculty.
This opinion is contradictory to the teaching and pastoral practice of the
Catholic Church. Whatever the force of certain arguments of a biological and
philosophical nature, which have sometimes been used by theologians, in fact
both the Magisterium of the Church - in the course of a constant tradition - and
the moral sense of the faithful have declared without hesitation that
masturbation is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act.[19] The main
reason is that, whatever the motive for acting this way, the deliberate use of
the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially contradicts the
finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the
moral order, namely the relationship which realizes "the full sense of mutual
self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love."[20] All
deliberate exercise of sexuality must be reserved to this regular relationship.
Even if it cannot be proved that Scripture condemns this sin by name, the
tradition of the Church has rightly understood it to be condemned in the New
Testament when the latter speaks of "impurity," "unchasteness" and other vices
contrary to chastity and continence.
Sociological surveys are able to show the frequency of this disorder according
to the places, populations or circumstances studied. In this way facts are
discovered, but facts do not constitute a criterion for judging the moral value
of human acts.[21] The frequency of the phenomenon in question is certainly to
be linked with man's innate weakness following original sin; but it is also to
be linked with the loss of a sense of God, with the corruption of morals
engendered by the commercialization of vice, with the unrestrained
licentiousness of so many public entertainments and publications, as well as
with the neglect of modesty, which is the guardian of chastity.
On the subject of masturbation modern psychology provides much valid and useful
information for formulating a more equitable judgment on moral responsibility
and for orienting pastoral action. Psychology helps one to see how the
immaturity of adolescence (which can sometimes persist after that age),
psychological imbalance or habit can influence behavior, diminishing the
deliberate character of the act and bringing about a situation whereby
subjectively there may not always be serious fault. But in general, the absence
of serious responsibility must not be presumed; this would be to misunderstand
people's moral capacity.
In the pastoral ministry, in order to form an adequate judgment in concrete
cases, the habitual behavior of people will be considered in its totality, not
only with regard to the individual's practice of charity and of justice but also
with regard to the individual's care in observing the particular precepts of
chastity. In particular, one will have to examine whether the individual is
using the necessary means, both natural and supernatural, which Christian
asceticism from its long experience recommends for overcoming the passions and
progressing in virtue.
X
The observance of the moral law in the field of sexuality and
the practice of chastity have been considerably endangered, especially among
less fervent Christians, by the current tendency to minimize as far as possible,
when not denying outright, the reality of grave sin, at least in people's actual
lives.
There are those who go as far as to affirm that mortal sin, which causes
separation from God, only exists in the formal refusal directly opposed to God's
call, or in that selfishness which completely and deliberately closes itself to
the love of neighbor. They say that it is only then that there comes into play
the fundamental option, that is to say the decision which totally commits the
person and which is necessary if mortal sin is to exist; by this option the
person, from the depths of the personality, takes up or ratifies a fundamental
attitude towards God or people. On the contrary, so-called "peripheral" actions
(which, it is said, usually do not involve decisive choice), do not go so far as
to change the fundamental option, the less so since they often come, as is
observed, from habit. Thus such actions can weaken the fundamental option, but
not to such a degree as to change it completely. Now according to these authors,
a change of the fundamental option towards God less easily comes about in the
field of sexual activity, where a person generally does not transgress the moral
order in a fully deliberate and responsible manner but rather under the
influence of passion, weakness, immaturity, sometimes even through the illusion
of thus showing love for someone else. To these causes there is often added the
pressure of the social environment.
In reality, it is precisely the fundamental option which in the last resort
defines a person's moral disposition. But it can be completely changed by
particular acts, especially when, as often happens, these have been prepared for
by previous more superficial acts. Whatever the case, it is wrong to say that
particular acts are not enough to constitute mortal sin.
According to the Church's teaching, mortal sin, which is opposed to God, does
not consist only in formal and direct resistance to the commandment of charity.
It is equally to be found in this opposition to authentic love which is included
in every deliberate transgression, in serious matter, of each of the moral laws.
Christ Himself has indicated the double commandment of love as the basis of the
moral life. But on this commandment depends "the whole Law, and the Prophets
also."[22] It therefore includes the other particular precepts. In fact, to the
young man who asked, ". . . what good deed must I do to possess eternal life?"
Jesus replied: ". . . if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments . .
. . You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You
must not bring false witness. Honor your father and mother, and: you must love
your neighbor as yourself."[23]
A person therefore sins mortally not only when his action comes from direct
contempt for love of God and neighbor, but also when he consciously and freely,
for whatever reason, chooses something which is seriously disordered. For in
this choice, as has been said above, there is already included contempt for the
Divine commandment: the person turns himself away from God and loses charity.
Now according to Christian tradition and the Church's teaching, and as right
reason also recognizes, the moral order of sexuality involves such high values
of human life that every direct violation of this order is objectively
serious.[24]
It is true that in sins of the sexual order, in view of their kind and their
causes, it more easily happens that free consent is not fully given; this is a
fact which calls for caution in all judgment as to the subject's responsibility.
In this matter it is particularly opportune to recall the following words of
Scripture: "Man looks at appearances but God looks at the heart."[25] However,
although prudence is recommended in judging the subjective seriousness of a
particular sinful act, it in no way follows that one can hold the view that in
the sexual field mortal sins are not committed.
Pastors of souls must therefore exercise patience and goodness; but they are not
allowed to render God's commandments null, nor to reduce unreasonably people's
responsibility. "To diminish in no way the saving teaching of Christ constitutes
an eminent form of charity for souls. But this must ever be accompanied by
patience and goodness, such as the Lord Himself gave example of in dealing with
people. Having come not to condemn but to save, He was indeed intransigent with
evil, but merciful towards individuals."[26]
XI
As has been said above, the purpose of this Declaration is to
draw the attention of the faithful in present-day circumstances to certain
errors and modes of behavior which they must guard against. The virtue of
chastity, however, is in no way confined solely to avoiding the faults already
listed. It is aimed at attaining higher and more positive goals. It is a virtue
which concerns the whole personality, as regards both interior and outward
behavior.
Individuals should be endowed with this virtue according to their state in life:
for some it will mean virginity or celibacy consecrated to God, which is an
eminent way of giving oneself more easily to God alone with an undivided
heart.[27] For others it will take the form determined by the moral law,
according to whether they are married or single. But whatever the state of life,
chastity is not simply an external state; it must make a person's heart pure in
accordance with Christ's words: "You have learned how it was said: You must not
commit adultery. But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he
has already committed adultery with her in his heart."[28]
Chastity is included in that continence which St. Paul numbers among the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, while he condemns sensuality as a vice particularly unworthy
of the Christian and one which precludes entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.[29]
"What God wants is for all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from
fornication, and each one of you know how to use the body that belongs to him in
a way that is holy and honorable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans
who do not know God. He wants nobody at all ever to sin by taking advantage of a
brother in these matters. . . . We have been called by God to be holy, not to be
immoral. In other words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human
authority, but to God, Who gives you His Holy Spirit."[30] "Among you there must
not be even a mention of fornication or impurity in any of its forms, or
promiscuity: this would hardly become the saints! For you can be quite certain
that nobody who actually indulges in fornication or impurity or promiscuity -
which is worshipping a false god - can inherit anything of the Kingdom of God.
Do not let anyone deceive you with empty arguments: it is for this loose living
that God's anger comes down on those who rebel against Him. Make sure that you
are not included with them. You were darkness once, but now you are light in the
Lord; be like children of light, for the effects of the light are seen in
complete goodness and right living and truth."[31]
In addition, the Apostle points out the specifically Christian motive for
practising chastity when he condemns the sin of fornication not only in the
measure that this action is injurious to one's neighbor or to the social order
but because the fornicator offends against Christ Who has redeemed him with His
blood and of Whom he is a member, and against the Holy Spirit of Whom he is the
temple. "You know, surely, that your bodies are members making up the body of
Christ. . . . All the other sins are committed outside the body; but to
fornicate is to sin against your own body. Your body, you know, is the temple of
the Holy Spirit, Who is in you since you received Him from God. You are not your
own property; you have been bought and paid for. That is why you should use your
body for the glory of God."[32]
The more the faithful appreciate the value of chastity and its necessary role in
their lives as men and women, the better they will understand, by a kind of
spiritual instinct, its moral requirements and counsels. In the same way they
will know better how to accept and carry out, in a spirit of docility to the
Church's teaching, what an upright conscience dictates in concrete cases.
XII
The Apostle St. Paul describes in vivid terms the painful
interior conflict of the person enslaved to sin: the conflict between "the law
of his mind" and the "law of sin which dwells in his members" and which holds
him captive.[33] But man can achieve liberation from his "body doomed to death"
through the grace of Jesus Christ.[34] This grace is enjoyed by those who have
been justified by it and whom "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
set free from the law of sin and death."[35] It is for this reason that the
Apostle adjures them: "That is why you must not let sin reign in your mortal
bodies or command your obedience to bodily passions."[36]
This liberation, which fits one to serve God in newness of life, does not
however suppress the concupiscence deriving from original sin, nor the
promptings to evil in this world, which is "in the power of the evil one."[37]
This is why the Apostle exhorts the faithful to overcome temptations by the
power of God[38] and to "stand against the wiles of the Devil"[39] by faith,
watchful prayer[40] and an austerity of life that brings the body into
subjection to the Spirit.[41]
Living the Christian life by following in the footsteps of Christ requires that
everyone should "deny himself and take up his cross daily,"[42] sustained by the
hope of reward, for "if we have died with Him, we shall also reign with
Him."[43] In accordance with these pressing exhortations, the faithful of the
present time, and indeed today more than ever, must use the means which have
always been recommended by the Church for living a chaste life. These means are:
discipline of the senses and the mind, watchfulness and prudence in avoiding
occasions of sin, the observance of modesty, moderation in recreation, wholesome
pursuits, assiduous prayer and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance
and the Eucharist. Young people especially should earnestly foster devotion to
the Immaculate Mother of God, and take as examples the lives of saints and other
faithful people, especially young ones, who excelled in the practice of
chastity.
It is important in particular that everyone should have a high esteem for the
virtue of chastity, its beauty and its power of attraction. This virtue
increases the human person's dignity and enables him to love truly,
disinterestedly, unselfishly and with respect for others.
XIII
It is up to the Bishops to instruct the faithful in the moral
teaching concerning sexual morality, however great may be the difficulties in
carrying out this work in the face of ideas and practices generally prevailing
today. This traditional doctrine must be studied more deeply. It must be handed
on in a way capable of properly enlightening the consciences of those confronted
with new situations and it must be enriched with a discernment of all the
elements that can truthfully and usefully be brought forward about the meaning
and value of human sexuality. But the principles and norms of moral living
reaffirmed in this Declaration must be faithfully held and taught. It will
especially be necessary to bring the faithful to understand that the Church
holds these principles not as old and inviolable superstitions, nor out of some
Manichaean prejudice, as is often alleged, but rather because she knows with
certainty that they are in complete harmony with the Divine order of creation
and with the spirit of Christ, and therefore also with human dignity.
It is likewise the Bishops' mission to see that a sound doctrine enlightened by
faith and directed by the Magisterium of the Church is taught in faculties of
theology and in seminaries. Bishops must also ensure that confessors enlighten
people's consciences and that catechetical instruction is given in perfect
fidelity to Catholic doctrine.
It rests with the Bishops, the priests and their collaborators to alert the
faithful against the erroneous opinions often expressed in books, reviews and
public meetings.
Parents, in the first place, and also teachers of the young must endeavor to
lead their children and their pupils, by way of a complete education, to the
psychological, emotional and moral maturity befitting their age. They will
therefore prudently give them information suited to their age; and they will
assiduously form their wills in accordance with Christian morals, not only by
advice but above all by the example of their own lives, relying on God's help,
which they will obtain in prayer. They will likewise protect the young from the
many dangers of which they are quite unaware.
Artists, writers and all those who use the means of social communication should
exercise their profession in accordance with their Christian faith and with a
clear awareness of the enormous influence which they can have. They should
remember that "the primacy of the objective moral order must be regarded as
absolute by all,"[44] and that it is wrong for them to give priority above it to
any so-called aesthetic purpose, or to material advantage or to success. Whether
it be a question of artistic or literary works, public entertainment or
providing information, each individual in his or her own domain must show tact,
discretion, moderation and a true sense of values. In this way, far from adding
to the growing permissiveness of behavior, each individual will contribute
towards controlling it and even towards making the moral climate of society more
wholesome.
All lay people, for their part, by virtue of their rights and duties in the work
of the apostolate, should endeavor to act in the same way.
Finally, it is necessary to remind everyone of the words of the Second Vatican
Council: "This Holy Synod likewise affirms that children and young people have a
right to be encouraged to weigh moral values with an upright conscience, and to
embrace them by personal choice, to know and love more adequately. Hence, it
earnestly entreats all who exercise government over people or preside over the
work of education to see that youth is never deprived of this sacred right."[45]
At the audience granted on November 7, 1975, to the undersigned Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Sovereign Pontiff by
Divine Providence Pope Paul VI approved this Declaration "On certain questions
concerning sexual ethics," confirmed it and ordered its publication.
Given in Rome, at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on
December 29th, 1975.
Franjo Cardinal Seper
Prefect
Most Rev. Jerome Hamer, O.P.
Titular Archbishop of Lorium
Secretary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENDNOTES
1. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World "Gaudium et Spes," 47 AAS 58 (1966), p. 1067.
2. Cf. Apostolic Constitution "Regimini Ecclesiae Universae," 29 (Aug 15th,
1967) AAS 89 (1967), p. 1067.
3. "Gaudium et Spes," 16 AAS 58 (1966), p. 1037.
4. Jn 8:12.
5. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration "Dignitatis Humanae," 3 AAS 58
(1966), p. 931.
6. I Tim 3:15
7. "Dignitatis Humanae," 14 AAS 58 (1966), p. 940; cf Pius XI, encyclical letter
"Casti Connubii," Dec 31st, 1930 AAS 22 (1930), pp 579-580; Pius XII, allocution
of Nov. 2nd, 1954 AAS 46 (1954), pp 671-672; John XXIII, encyclical letter
"Mater et Magistra," May 15th, 1961 AAS 53 (1961), p. 457; Paul VI, encyclical
letter "Humanae Vitae," 4, July 25th, 1968 AAS 60 (1968) p. 483.
8. Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration "Gravissimum Educationis,"
1, 8: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 729-730; 734-736 "Gaudium et Spes," 29, 60, 67 AAS 58
(1966), pp. 1048 1049, 1080-1081, 1088-1089.
9. "Gaudium et Spes," 51 AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1072.
10. Ibid; cf also 49 loc cit, pp. 1069-1070.
11. Ibid, 49, 50 loc cit, pp. 1069-1072.
12. The present Declaration does not go into further detail regarding the norms
of sexual life within marriage; these norms have been clearly taught in the
encyclical letter "Casti Connubii" and "Humanae Vitae."
13. Cf. Mt 19:4-6.
14. I Cor 7:9.
15. Cf. Eph 5:25-32.
16. Sexual intercourse outside marriage is formally condemned I Cor 5:1; 6:9;
7:2; 10:8 Eph. 5:5; I Tim 1:10; Heb 13:4; and with explicit reasons I Cor
6:12-20.
17. Cf. Innocent IV, letter "Sub catholica professione," March 6th, 1254, DS
835; Pius II, "Propos damn in Ep Cum sicut accepimus." Nov 13th, 1459, DS 1367;
decrees of the Holy Office, Sept 24th, 1665, DS 2045; March 2nd, 1679, DS 2148
Pius XI, encyclical letter "Casti Connubii," Dec 31st, 1930 AAS 22 (1930), pp.
558 559.
18. Rom 1:24-27 "That is why God left them to their filthy enjoyments and the
practices with which they dishonor their own bodies since they have given up
Divine truth for a lie and have worshipped and served creatures instead of the
Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen! That is why God has abandoned them to
degrading passions; why their women have turned from natural intercourse to
unnatural practices and why their menfolk have given up natural intercourse to
be consumed with passion for each other, men doing shameless things with men and
getting an appropriate reward for their perversion" See also what St. Paul says
of "masculorum concubitores" in I Cor 6:10; I Tim 1:10.
19. Cf. Leo IX, letter "Ad splendidum nitentis," in the year 1054 DS 687-688,
decree of the Holy Office, March 2nd, 1679: DS 2149; Pius XII, "Allocutio," Oct
8th, 1953 AAS 45 (1953), pp. 677-678; May 19th, 1956 AAS 48 (1956), pp. 472-473.
20. "Gaudium et Spes," 51 AAS 58 (1966), p. 1072.
21. ". . . it sociological surveys are useful for better discovering the thought
patterns of the people of a particular place, the anxieties and needs of those
to whom we proclaim the word of God, and also the opposition made to it by
modern reasoning through the widespread notion that outside science there exists
no legitimate form of knowledge, still the conclusions drawn from such surveys
could not of themselves constitute a determining criterion of truth," Paul VI,
apostolic exhortation "Quinque iam anni." Dec 8th 1970, AAS 63 (1971), p. 102.
22. Mt 22:38, 40.
23. Mt 19:16-19.
24. Cf. note 17 and 19 above Decree of the Holy Office, March 18th, 1666, DS
2060; Paul VI, encyclical letter "Humanae Vitae," 13, 14 AAS 60 (1968), pp.
489-496.
25. Sam 16:7.
26. Paul VI, encyclical letter "Humanae Vitae," 29 AAS 60 (1968), p. 501.
27. Cf. I Cor 7:7, 34; Council of Trent, Session XXIV, can 10 DS 1810; Second
Vatican Council, Constitution "Lumen Gentium," 42 43, 44 AAS 57 (1965), pp.
47-51 Synod of Bishops, "De Sacerdotio Ministeriali," part II, 4, b: AAS 63
(1971), pp. 915-916.
28. Mt 5:28.
29. Cf. Gal 5:19-23; I Cor 6:9-11.
30. I Thess 4:3-8; cf. Col 3:5-7; I Tim 1:10.
31. Eph 5:3-8; cf. 4:18-19.
32. I Cor 6:15, 18-20.
33. Cf. Rom 7:23.
34. Cf. Rom 7:24-25.
35. Cf. Rom 8:2.
36. Rom 6:12.
37. I Jn 5:19.
38. Cf. I Cor 10:13.
39. Eph 6:11.
40. Ct Eph 6:16, 18.
41. Ct I Cor 9:27.
42. Lk 9:23.
43. II Tim 2:11-12.
44. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council decree "Inter Mirifica," 6 AAS 56 (1964),
p. 147.
45. "Gravissimum Educationis," 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 730.
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