Pope Francis has told couples not to have sex before marriage in a new Vatican guide that explains what the church sees as prerequisites for a successful union.
The head of the Catholic Church argues in the foreword of the new document for priests and dioceses working with engaged couples that “chastity teaches the timing and method of true love”.
He also claims that modern partnerships can “break up” quickly and chaste couples can learn to be together without the pressures of sexual relationships.
This teaching also helps when couples are older, Pope Francis adds, stating that it helps them through sexless periods in late life and should apply even when engaged couples live together.
The 97-page document, released Tuesday and titled “Catechumenal Ways for Married Life,” “is a gift and a duty,” the head of the Catholic Church said.
The move was not without controversy, writes The Telegraph, and appears to run counter to the Pope’s openness to divorced and same-sex couples.
Pope Francis has told couples not to have sex before marriage in a new Vatican guide that explains what the church sees as prerequisites for a successful union
Pope Francis said in the text that “a renewed pastoral effort” is needed given the high rates of divorce and fewer marriages in recent years.
He added that “the origin of many of the difficulties” faced by married couples “is the hedonistic mentality that distorts the beauty and depth of human sexuality.”
The document goes on to say: “The church must never fail to propose the precious virtue of chastity, even when this is now in direct contrast to the general mentality.
“Chastity must be presented as a true ‘ally of love’, not as its denial.
“Chastity teaches married couples the times and ways of true, tender, and generous love, and prepares them for the authentic gift of self they can live in marriage throughout their lives.”
And within marriage, sex is encouraged: “Fertility is a gift, an end of marriage, because conjugal love tends to be fruitful,” says the Catechism.
Divorce has increased in England and Wales in recent years and is now leading to one in three marriages ending between 1964 and 2019.
General view of St. Peter’s Square during Holy Mass as Pope Francis canonizes ten new saints at the Vatican on May 15
In 2020, 103,592 divorces were granted in England and Wales, down 4.5% from 2019, believed to be due to a pandemic.
Most people were married for an average of 11.9 years before divorcing, ONS figures for 2020 also show.
But theologians have criticized the Catholic Church’s view as outdated and not good for modern marriages.
Vito Mancuso, an Italian theologian, said: “Exclude [sex]as Catholic teaching has always done, is a grave ethical error.’
He also criticized “the inability of the Catholic Church to understand sexuality”. In this, Pope Francis is no different from his predecessors.”
Father Alberto Maggi, another theologian, told La Repubblica newspaper: “Documents like this…are a step backwards.”
He added: ‘[It] should listen more to the reality of today’s young people as they live before re-issuing the doctrine they have always proposed.’
Austen Ivereigh, a British expert on the Catholic Church, claimed this was nothing new: “This is not a ban or a new rule. They invite people to follow this path. They know that it goes against the tide of society. The Church assumes that most people today live together and have sex before marriage.”
And he agreed with the church’s view that it could avoid “the incredibly high divorce rates that we see in society.”
Pope Francis told a gay man in 2018, according to the Times, that “God created you and loves you just the way you are,” and in 2016 he made it easier for people to marry after a divorce when the marriage is “irreparable.” broken” was.