1. 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.

1. Persona humana, secundum doctorum virorum nostrae aetatis aestimationem, tam penitus affici sexualitate perhibetur, ut haec in elementis annumeretur, quae hominis vitam praecipue informent. Ac revera, a sexu eae profluunt notae peculiares, quae in regione biologica, psychologica et spirituali personam ipsam efflciunt marem ac feminam, quaeque propterea plurimam vim ac momentum habent ad explendam singulorum hominum maturitatem ad eosque societati inserendos. Quare, quod quisque facile animadvertere potest, hodie res, quae ad sexum pertinent, materia sunt, de qua crebro ac propalam agitur in libris, in commentariis et ephemeridibus, atque in ceteris communicationis socialis instrumentis.

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.

Interea magis magisque invaluit morum corruptio, in cuius gravissimis indiciis ponenda est immoderata sexus praedicatio, eademque instrumentorum communicationis socialis spectaculorumque ope adeo progressa est, ut educationis campum invaserit communemque infecerit vulgi existimationem.

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.

In hac rerum condicione, si ex una parte educatores, paedagogi, disciplinarumque moralium cultores, operam conferre potuerunt, ut bona utriusque sexus propria clariore in lumine ponerentur aptiusque traducerentur in vitae usum, ex altera parte alii opinationes proposuerunt vitaeque ducendae rationes, quae veris moralibus postulatis hominis repugnant, immo eo pervenerunt, ut ad edonismi licentiam viam sternerent.

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.

 Hine factum est, ut etiam apud christianos doctrinae, morales normae vivendique rationes hucusque fideliter servatae, paucorum annorum spatio vehementer in discrimen vocata sint, ac multi hodie secum quaerant, quid, tot pervagantibus opinionibus contrariis doctrinae quam ab Ecclesia receperunt, etiam nunc pro veritate retinere debeant.

2. 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]

2. In hac mentium perturbatione morumque corruptione fas non est Ecclesiam neglegenter se habere. Siquidem de quaestione agitur summi sane momenti sive ad singulorum christianorum vitam, sive ad socialem vitam nostrae aetatis quod attinet.l

¹  Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Church in the Modern World “Gaudium et Spes,” 47 AAS 58 (1966), p. 1067.

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.

Episcopi cotidie experimento cognoscunt augescentes difficultates, quibus laborant tum christifideles in percipienda sana doctrina de moribus, peculiarique modo de rebus quae ad secum pertinent, tum etiam pastores in eadem doctrina efficaciter exponenda. Hi probe sciunt sibi pastorale munus iniungere, ut in re tantae gravitatis necessitatibus subveniant suorum fidelium; ac praeclara sane documenta de hac quaestione edita iam sunt a nonnullis sacris Pastoribus et a quibusdam Conferenths Episcopalibus. Attamen, cum falsae opiniones pravaeque inde ortae agendi rationes disseminari ubique pergant, Sacra Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, pro munere suo in Ecclesia universali Z ac de Summi Pontificis mandato, necessarium duxit hanc Declarationem promulgare.

²  Cf. Apostolic Constitution “Regimini Ecclesiae Universae,” 29 (Aug 15th, 1967) AAS 89 (1967), p. 1067.

3. 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.

3. Nostrae aetatis homines magis in dies sibi persuasum habent personae humanae dignitatem vocationemque id postulare, ut ipsi, rationis lumine ducti, bona virtutesque naturae suae insita detegant, continenter promoveant, in vitaeque suae actionem traducant, eo quidem consilio, ut magis in dies progredi possint.

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.” (“Gaudium et Spes,” 16 AAS 58 (1966), p. 1037)

Attamen in re morali aestimanda homo nequaquam arbitrio suo procedere potest : In imo conscientiae legem detegit, guam ipse sibi non dat, sed cui oboedire debet... Nam homo legem in corde scriptam habet, cui parere dignitas eius est et secundum quam ipse iudicabitur.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.” (Jn 8:12)

Praeterea nobis christianis Deus per revelationem suam notum fecit suum salutis consilium, ac proposuit tamquam supremam atque immutabilem vitae normam, Christum, Salvatorem et Sanctificatorem, per doctrinam et exempla Ipsius, qui dixit : Ego sum lux mundi: qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae.’

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.

Hominis, igitur, dignitas vere promoveri nequit, nisi ordo essentialis eius naturae servatur. Fatendum quidem est_., per civilis cultus decursum bene multas rerum condiciones vitaeque humanae necessitates mutatas esse atque in posterum etiam mutatum iri; at quilibet morum profectus et quodlibet vivendi genus contineri debent intra fines, quos statuunt immutabilia principia, quae innituntur in elementis constitutivis et relationibus essentialibus cuiusque humanae personae; quae elementa ac relationes historica adiuncta transcendunt.

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.

Haec principia fundamentalia, quae humana ratio percipere potest, continentur in lege divina, aeterna, obiectiva et universali, qua Deus consilio sapientiae et dilectionis suae rmundum universum viasque cammuni.tatis ordinat, di    rigit, gubernat. Huius suae legis Deus hominem participem reddit, ita ut providentia divina suaviter disponente, veritatem incommutabilem magis magisque cognoscere possit.’ Haec autem lex divina nostrae cognitioni pervia est.

⁵  Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration “Dignitatis Humanae,” 3 AAS 58 (1966), p. 931.

4. 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.

 4. Perperam, igitur, multi hodie negant sive in natura humana sive in lege revelata ullam aliam inveniri posse normam absolutam atque immutabilem de actionibus particularibus praeter eam, quae exprimitur per generalem legem caritatis et observantcae dignitatis humanae. Ad quod quidem probandum iidem hanc afferunt rationem : ea quae normae legis naturalis vel Sacrarum Scripturarum praecepta vocari solent, potius formae cuiusdam humani cultus particularis, certo historiae tempore expressae, habenda sunt.

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.

At vero revelatio divina atque etiam, in rerum ordine sibi proprio, naturalis rationis sapientia, cum germanas attingunt humani generis necessitates, simul necessario in luce ponunt leges immutabiles in elementis constitutivis naturae hominis insitas, quae eaedem apparent in omnibus viventibus qui ratione praediti sunt.

Furthermore, Christ instituted His Church as “the pillar and bulwark of truth.” (I Tim 3:15) 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.

Accedit, quod a Christo Ecclesia instituta est tamquam columna et fcrmamentum veritatis.b Ipsa, auxiliante Spiritu Sancto, sine intermissione custodit et sine errore tradit veritates ordinis moralis, atque authentice interpretatur non solum legem positivam revelatam, sed etiam principia ordinis moralis ex ipsa natura humana pro fluentia,’ quae spectant ad plenum hominis profectum eiusque sanctificationem. Ecclesia reapse per totum suae historiae decursum semper retinuit certa legis naturalis praecepta vim habere absolutam atque immutabilem, eorumque violationem censuit doctrinae et spcritui Evangelii repugnare.

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.

5. 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.

5. Cum autem ethica sexualis quaedam fundamentalia bona vitae humanae et christianae tangat, inde fit, ut ad illam pariter generalis haec doctrina applicetur. Hac in re principia ac normae habentur, quae Ecclesia tamquam doctrinae suae partem sine ulla dubitatione semper tradidit, quantumvis ipsis opiniones moresque mundi obstiterint. Quae quidem principia ac normae haudquaquam exorta sunt ex aliquo culturae genere, sed ex divinae legis naturaeque humanae cognitione; quapropter putari non possunt vim amisisse vel in dubium vocari, propterea quod novae culturae adiuncta intercesserint.

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]

Haec quidem principia sunt, e quibus ductum sumpserunt consilia ac normae Concilii Vaticani II eo spectantia, ut talis vita socialis institueretur atque ordinaretur, in qua debita ratio haberetur aequalis dignitatis maris et feminae, differentia utriusque servata.⁸

⁸  (Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration “Gravissimum Educationis,” 1, 8: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 729-730; 734-736 “Gaudium et Spes [GS],” 29, 60, 67 AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1048 1049, 1080-1081, 1088-1089.

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.” (GS 51 AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1072) 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.

Dum loquitur de indole sexuali hominis necnon de humana generandi facultate, Concilium animadvertit easdem mirabiliter exsuperare ea quae in in ferioribus vitae gradibus habentur.⁹ Deinde singillatim pertractat principia et regulas, quae sexualitatem humanam in matrimonio respiciunt, quaeque in propria eius functionis finalitate innituntur.

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.” (GS; cf also 49 loc cit, pp. 1069-1070)

Ad rem quod attinet, Concilium declarat honestatem actuum vitae coniugalis, secundum veram hominis dignitatem ordinatorum, non a sola sincera intentione et aestimatione motivorum pendere, sed obiectivis criteriis, ex personae eiusdemque octuum natura desumptis, determinari debere, quae integrum sensum mutuae donationis ac humanae procreationis in contextu veri amoris observant.”

These final words briefly sum up the Council’s teaching - more fully expounded in an earlier part of the same Constitution (GS, 49, 50 loc cit, pp. 1069-1072)  - 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.

Postrema haec verba summatim perstringunt Concilii doctrinam - antea fusius in eadem Constitutione explicatam “ - de actus sexualis finalitate deque praecipua regula eius moralitatis : honestas enim huius actus tune in tuto posita est, cum haec finalitas servatur.-

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]

Idem hoe principium, quod Ecclesia ex divina revelatione suaque authentica legis naturalis interpretatione haurit, constituit etiam translaticiam eius doctrinam, secundum quam potestatis sexualis usus non accipit veram suam significationem probitatemque moralem, nisi in matrimonio legitimo.”

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.”

6. 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.

6. Ifuic autem Declarationi propositum non est, ut omnes sexualis facultatis abusus tractentur, neque ut cuncta enucleentur quae castitatis cultus secum inferat, sed potius ut Ecclesiae normae repetantur de certis quibusdam doctrinae capitibus, cum iam vehementer necesse esse videatur gravibus erroribus ac pravis agendi rationibus adversari, quae late disseminantur.

7. 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.

7. Multi his diebus ius vindicant ad sexualem iunctionem ante initum matrimonium, saltem ubi firma voluntas nubendi atque affectio iam quodammodo coniugalis in arnborum animis postulant illud complementum, quod ipsi connaturale esse arbitrantur; idque praesertim, quoties matrimonii celebratio externis rerum adiunctis impeditur, vel haec intima coniunctio necessaria iudicatur, ut amor ipse permaneat.

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.” (Cf. Mt 19:4-6) 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.” (I Cor 7:9) Through marriage, in fact, the love of married people is taken up into that love which Christ irrevocably has for the Church,(Cf. Eph 5:25-32) 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.

Huiusmodi opinio christianae doctrinae adversatur, quae statuit qualemcumque genitalem hominis actionem matrimonii terminis contineri debere. Quantumvis enim firmum est eorum propositumn, qui praematuris hisce iunctionibus sese vinciunt, nihilominus hae iunctiones haud sinunt, ut sinceritas ac fidelitas mutuae necessitudinis inter viri ac mulieris personas in tuto ponantur, nee praesertim ut haec necessitudo a cupiditatum et arbitrii mobilitate protegatur. Atqui stabilem Christus Dominus voluit iunctionem illam, eamque ad nativam restituit condicionem, in ipsa sexus differentia fundatam. Non legistis guia qui fecit hominem ab initio masculum et feminam fecit eos et dixit: Propter hoe dimittet homo patrem et matrem et adhaerebit uxori suae, et erunt duo in carne una2 Itaque iam non sunt duo, sed una caro. Quod ergo Deus coniunxit, homo non separet.” Verbis etiam apertioribus S. Paulus loquitur, cum docet, si caelibes vel viduae continenter vivere non possint, aliam optionem ipsis non dari, quam stabilem conubii unionem Melius est enim nubere quam uri.¹’ Per matrimonium, enim, amor inter coniuges amori illi inseritur, quo Christus irrevocabili modo Ecclesiam diligit; “ coitus vero corporum in impudicitia “ contaminat templum Spiritus Sancti, quod christianus ipse factus est. Coniunctio igitur carnalis legitima non est, nisi consortium vitae inter virum et mulierem perpetuum instauratur.

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.

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.

Hoe semper intellexit ac docuit Ecclesia,” quae ceterum maximam reperit consensionem cum doctrina sua in humanae sapientiae rationibus atque in historiae testimoniis.

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.

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.

Experientia docet amorem stabilitate coniugii muniendum esse, ut sexualis copulatio finalitatis sibi propriae dignitatisque humanae postulatis reapse satisfaciat. Haec autem postulata coniugale exigunt foedus sancitum ac defensum a societate; quod quidem foedus vitae statum instaurat, qui sive ad exclusoriam iunctionem viri ac mulieris, sive etiam ad ipsorum familiae totiusque humanae societatis bonum summi est momenti. Ac revera plerumque sexuales coniunctiones, quae legitimum matrimonium praecedunt, prolis excludunt exspectationem. Amor ille, qui tamquam coniugalis perperam proponitur, in amorem paternum atque maternum excrescere, ut omnino oportet, non poterit ; idque, si forte contigerit, in detrimentum profecto cedet liberorum, quippe qui stabili priventur convictu, ubi rite adolescant ac viam ac subsidia reperiant sese toti societati inserendi.

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.

Consensio igitur eorum, qui sese in matrimonio iungere cupiunt, exterius significari debet ac tali quidem modo, ut coram societate quoque valere possit. Fideles autem oportet secundum Ecclesiae leges declarent suum ad societatem coniugalem ducendam consensum, qui quidem efficit, ut conubium fiat Christi sacramentum.

8. 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.

8. Nostra aetate, contra perpetuam Magisterii doctrinam ac moralem populi christiani sensum, aliqui - secuti indicia psychologicae naturae - coeperunt indulgenter iudicare, immo etiam prorsus excusare relationes homosexuales quarundam personarum.

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.

Distinctionem instituunt - quae ceterum non sine causa fieri videtur - inter homosexuales, quorum proclivitas nata ex falsa educatione vel infecta maturitate sexuali vel consuetudine vel pravo exemplo aliisve similibus causis, ad tempus tantum exsistit aut saltem insanabilis non est, et homosexuales, qui tales sunt in perpetuum ob quoddam quasi impulsus innati genus aut vitiatam constitutionem, quae existimatur sanari non posse.

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.

Ad alterum hunc ordinem hominum quod spectat, nonnulli argumentantur eorum propensionem adeo naturalem esse, ut considerari debeat tamquam licitas illis reddens relationes homosexuales intea sinceram vitae amorisque communionem matrimonii consimilem, quatenus ipsi sibi videantur vitam solitariam tolerare minime valere.

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.

 Profecto, dum pastoralis animarum cura agitur, tales homosexuales suscipiendi sunt cum considerata animi lenitate iidemque in spem sunt erigendi se diflicultates suas suamque alienationem socialem esse aliquando superaturos. Eorum quoque culpabilitas prudenter iudicabitur. Verumtamen nullam adhiberi licet viam aut rationem pastoralem, quae eisdem tribuat excusationem moralem, propterea quod hi actus talium hominum condicioni congruentes aestimentur. Etenim, secundum obiectivum rerum ordinem moralem iunctiones homosexuales sunt actus, qui sua necessaria et essentiali ordinatione privantur. In Sacris Scripturis reprobantur uti graves depravationes, immo exhibentur tamquam funesta repudiationis Dei consecutio.’ Haec quidem Divinarum Scripturarum sententia non sinit, ut concludatur eos omnes, qui ista deformitate laborent, hac de causa iam in personali culpa esse; nihilominus testatur actus homosexualitatis suapte intrinseca natura esse inordinatos, neque unquam ullo modo approbari posse.

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.

9. 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.

9. Saepe hodie in dubium vocatur vel aperte negatur tradita catholicae Ecclesiae doctrina, secundum quam masturbatio gravem in re morali deordinationem constituit. Psychologia et sociologia, uti aiunt, ostendunt illam, praesertim in adulescentibus, ad maturescentem sexualitatem communiter pertinere, ac nihil propterea verae et gravis culpae in ea contineri, nisi quatenus consulto quis se dederit solitariae voluptati in eo ipso circumclusae (« ipsatio »); quo in casu actum utique omnino opponi communioni amoris inter divers’ sexus personas, quam quidem contendunt praecipuum esse propositum usus sexualis facultatis.

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.

Haec tamen opinio et doctrinae et consuetudini pastorali Ecclesiae catholicae adversatur. Qualiscumque vis est aliquarum argumentationum indolis biologicae vel philosophicae, quibus interdum usi fuerunt theologi, revera turn Ecclesiae Magisterium - per decursum constant’s traditionis - tum moralis christifidelium sensus sine dubitatione firmiter tenent masturbationem esse actum intrinsece graviterque inordinatum.’⁹ Potissima huius veritatis ratio in eo posita est, quod, quaecumque est ipsa agendi causa, deliberatus usus facultatis sexualis extra rectum coniugale commercium essentialiter eius fini contradicit. In eo namque deest relatio sexualis, quae ordine morali postulatur, quae nempe ad effectum deducit integrum sensum mutuae donation’s ac humanae procreation’s in contextu veri amoris.’ Ad eam igitur rectum relationem referenda est omnis deliberata exercitatio sexualitatis. Etiamsi statui non possit S. Scripturam hoe peccatum peculiari quodam nomine damnare, tamen Ecclesiae traditio iure meritoque intellexit illud in Novo Testamento improbari, cum sermo fit de « immunditia » vel de « impudicitia » aliisve vitiis castitati et continentiae contrariis.

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.

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.

Sociologicae inquisitiones demonstrare quidem valent huius deordinationis crebritatem secundum loca, incolarum varietates vel rerum temporumque adiuncta, quae consideranda suscipiuntur; et sic facta ipsa colliguntur. At facta non praebent regulam, qua actuum humanorum honestas iudicari possit.” Crebritas huius rei, de qua agitur, consocianda quidem est cum ingenita hominis debilitate ex originali peccato orta, sed etiam cum amisso Dei sensu, cum morum corruptione per vitiorum mercaturam inducta, cum effrenata tot spectaculorum ac scriptorum licentia, nec non cum oblivione pudoris, qui custos est castitatis.

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.

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.

Psychologia hodierna complura valida et utilia indicia suppeditat de masturbationis argumento, ex quibus aequius iudicium de responsabilitate morali feratur atque pastoralis actio convenienter dirigatur. Eadem adiuvare potest ad intellegendum, quo pacto immaturitas adulescentiae, quae nonnumquam ultra hanc aetatem protrahitur, vel aequilibritatis psy chologicae defectus vel consuetudo suscepta afficere possint hominis agendi rationem, cum imminuant actuum deliberationem et efiiciant, ut subiective non semper culpa gravis contrahatur. Sod in universum absentia gravis responsabilitatis praesumi non debet; quod si contingit, ipsa hominum potestas moraliter agendi haud agnoscitur.

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.

In ipso autem pastorali ministerio ad aequum iudicium faciendum in singulis casibus, universa et consueta alicuius hominis operandi ratio aestimari debet non solum quod attinet ad caritatis et iustitiae exercitationem, verum etiam ad curam, qua peculiare castitatis praeceptum ab eo observatur. Praecipue ergo videndum est, sintne adhibita subsidia necessaria, cum naturalia tum supernaturalia, quae christiana ascesis ex diuturna sua experientia commendat ad cupiditates edomandas et ad virtutis profectum consequendum.

10. 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.

 10. Observantia legis moralis in re sexuali, sicut et exercitatio castitatis, in periculum haud leve adducta est, praesertim inter christianos minus ferventes, ob hodiernam proclivitatem ad circumscribendam quam maxime realitatem gravis peccati, saltem in vita hominum concreta, immo ad eam subinde omnino infitiandam.

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.

Sunt etiam qui eo usque progressi sunt, ut affirment peccatum mortale, quod hominem a Deo seiungat, habendum esse tantummodo recusationem directam et formalem, qua quis Deo vocanti sese opponat, vel cum quis, sui solius amans, penitus deliberateque excludat proximi amorem. Tune videlicet solum illi dicunt intercedere « optionem fundamentalem », id est decisionem voluntatis, quae totam personam humanam obstringat, quaeque requiratur ut mortale exsistat peccatum; per hanc nempe optionem hominem ex imis personae suae suscipere vel ratum habere fundamentalem quendam habitum erga Deum vel erga homines. Ex contrario, animad    vertunt, actus dictos « periphericos >> - in quibus negant plerumque electionem esse decretoriam - non eo usque pro    cedere, ut iidem mutent optionem fundamentalem; idque tanto minus, quod saepius ex consuetudine proficiscantur. Hos actus, igitur, posse quidem infirmare optionem fundamentalem, non ita tamen, ut funditus illam evertant. Atqui, secundum hos auctores, immutatio optionis fundamentalis erga Deum diffi    cilius evenit in regione vitae sexualis, ubi homo communiter non violat ordinem moralem aliquo actu plene deliberato et responsabili, sed potius impulsu passionis suae, debilitate vel immaturitate, nonnumquam etiam vana illa opinione, qua putat se ita testificari suum in proximos amorem; quibus causis saepe additur pondus ipsorum socialium adiunctorum.

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.

Re quidem vera optio fundamentalis tandem apte definit moralem hominis propensionem; eadem tamen radicitus com    mutari potest actibus singularibus, praesertim cum hi, ut saepe accidit, iam praeparati sint praecedentibus actionibus modo magis superficiali positis. Uteumque autem id est, haud recte affirmatur singulares actus non sufficere, ut mortale peccatum patretur.

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.

Secundum Eeclesiae doctrinam, peccatum mortale, quod Deo opponitur, non continetur sola recusatione formali et di    recta praecepti caritatis; illud enim invenitur etiam in hac oppo    sitione contra verum amorem, quam prae se fert quaevis deli    berata transgressio uniuscuiusque legis moralis in re gravi

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.” (Mt 22:38, 40)  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.” (Mt 19:16-19)

. Christus ipse designavit duplex amoris mandatum velut vitae moralis fundamentum. Sed ex hoe mandato, universa lex pendet et prophetae; z2 quamobrem alia praecepta peculiaria complectitur. Ac revera adolescenti interroganti : ... quid boni faciam ut habeam vitam aeternam2 respondit Iesus : Si autem vis ad vitam ingredi, serva mandata... : Non homicidium facies, non adulterabis, non facies furtum, non falsum testimonium dices, honora patrem tnum et matrem tuam, et diliges proxi    mum tuum sicut teipsum.¹³

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]

Peccat, igitur, homo mortaliter non tune tantum, cum eius actus procedit ex directo contemptu Dei et proximi, verum etiam cum ipse sciens ac volens, quacumque ex ratione, eligit aliquid graviter inordinatum. In hac enim electione, ut dictum est supra, iam continetur despicientia praecepti divini : homo se ipsum deflectit a Deo et caritatem amittit. Atqui, secundum christianam traditionem Ecclesiaeque doctrinam, et sicut recta ratio agnoscit, ordo moralis sexualitatis amplectitur bona vitae humanae adeo praestantia, ut omnis directa violatio eiusdem ordinis obiective sit gravis.’

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.

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.” (Sam 16:7)  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.

Fatendum quidem est in peccatis indolis sexualis, perspec    tis eorum genere et causis, facilius fieri, ut liber consensus non plene praestetur; quocirca prudentiam et cautionem postu    lari in quovis iudicio ferendo de hominis responsabilitate. Hac in re peropportune repetuntur verba Sacrarum Scripturarum ... homo enim videt ea quae parent: Dominus autem intuetur cor.’ Attamen, si haec prudentia commendatur in iudicanda subiectiva gravitate alicuius singularis actus pravi, minime inde sequitur, ut opinari liceat in rerum sexualium provincia peccata mortalia non committi

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]

Animarum ergo pastores patientia uti debent et bonitate; verum ipsis non permittitur, ut inania reddantur Dei man    data, neve plus aequo minuantur propria hominum officia. Porro si nihil de salutari Christi doctrina demittere praecellens quod    dam caritatis erga animos genus est, at idem semper cum tole    rantia atque caritate coniun,ga-tur oportet, quarum ipse Re    demptor, cum hominibus et colloquens et agens, exempla pro    didit. Is enim, cum venisset non ad iudicandum, sed ad sal    vandum mundum, acerbe quidem severus in peccata, sed pa    tiens ac misericors in peccatores fuit.’

²⁶  Paul VI, encyclical letter “Humanae Vitae,” 29 AAS 60 (1968), p. 501.

11. 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.

11. Ut supra dictum est, huic Declarationi est propositum, ut in hodiernis rerum adiunctis fideles de certis erroribus agendique rationibus commoneantur, a quibus cavere debent. At virtus castitatis minime tota sistit in praedictis culpis vitandis; eadem postulat, ut ad altiora etiam quaedam bona assequenda spectetur. Eiusmodi enim virtus est, quae inte    gram personam attingat, quoad eius internam et externam agendi rationem.

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.” (Mt 5:28)

 Hac quidem virtute pro variis vitae suae statibus homines ornari debent : alteri virginitatem aut coelibatum Deo sacrum profitentes, qua quidem eminenti ratione ipsi facilius uni Deo vacare indiviso corde possunt; “ alteri vero vitam agentes ea forma, quae omnibus lege morali statuitur, prout matrimo    nio iunguntur aut sunt caelibes. Attamen, in quovis vitae statu castitas non circumscribitur solo externo corporis habitu ; ipsum cor hominis purum efcere debet, secundum haec Christi verba Audistis quia dictum est antiquis : Non moechaberis. Ego autem dico vobis, quia omnis qui viderit mulierem ad concupiscendum eam iam moechatus est in corde suo.¹

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.

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. (Cf. Gal 5:19-23; I Cor 6:9-11) “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.” (I Thess 4:3-8; cf. Col 3:5-7; I Tim 1:10) “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.” (Eph 5:3-8; cf. 4:18-19)

Castitas includitur in ea continentia, quam S. Paulus donis Spiritus Sancti annumerat, dum luxuriam condemnat tam    quam vitium, quod speciali modo christianum hominem dede    cet, atque a Regno caelorum excludit.” Haec est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra: ut abstineatis a fornicatione, ut sciat unusquisque vestrum vas suum possidere in sane tificatione et honore; non in passione desiderii sicut et gentes quae ignorant Deum, ut ne quis supergrediatur neque circumveniat in hoc negotio fratrem suu,m... Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immun    ditiam, sed in sanctifccationem. Itaque qui spernit non hominem spernit, sed Deum, qui etiam dat Spiritum suum Sanctum in vos.³° Fornicatio autem et omnis immunditia aut avaritia nec nominetur in vobis, sicut decet sanctos, ... et turpitudo et stulti    loquium aut scurrilitas, quae non decent, sed magis gratiarum actio. Hoc enim scitote, inteliegentes quod omnis fornicator aut immundus aut avarus, id est idolorum cultor, non habet hereditatem in regno Christi et Dei. Nemo vos decipiat inani    bus verbis, propter haec enim venitt ira Dei. in flios di ffidentiae. Nolite ergo effici comparticipes eorum; eratis enim aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in Domino; ut ilii lucis ambulate.”

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.” (I Cor 6:15, 18-20)

 Praeterea Apostolus, ratiionem affert christianorum pro    priam, cur castitas sit excolenda, dum reprobat peccatum for    nicationis non solum quatenus haec actio proximos vel socia    lem ordinem laedit, sed etiam quia fornicator offendit Christum, cuius sanguine acquisitus est cuiusque est membrum, et Spi    ritum Sanctum, cuius est templum : Nescitis quoniam corpora vestra sunt membra Christi? ... Omne peccatum quodcumque lecerit homo, extra corpus est; qui autem lornicatur, in corpus suum peccat. An nescitis quoniam membra vestra templum sunt Spiritus Sancti qui in vobis est, quem habetis a Deo, et non estis vestri 2 Empti enim estis pretio magno. Glori fccate et por    tate Deum in corpore vestro.”

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.

Quo magis fideles momentum intellegent castitatis eiusque necessarium munus in sua ipsorum vita ut virorum et mulie    rum, eo magis percipient, instinctu quodam spirituali permoti, quid haec virtus praecipiat vel suadeat; ac facilius etiam, ma    gisterio Ecclesiae obsequentes, ea excipere et implere scient, quae recta conscientia in singulis casibus dictaverit.

12. 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. (Cf. Rom 7:23) But man can achieve liberation from his “body doomed to death” through the grace of Jesus Christ. (Cf. Rom 7:24-25) 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.” (Cf. Rom 8:2) 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.” (Rom 6:12)

12. Apostolus Paulus vividis verbis acerbam pugnam descri    bit, quam homo, servus peccati, interius experitur inter llegem mentis suae et aliam legem, quae est in membris, ipsum capti    vantem.” Attamen homo liberari potest a corpore mortis per gratiam Iesu Christi.” Hac quidem gratia fruuntur homines, qui per ipsam iustificati sunt et quos lex spiritus vitae in Chri    sto Iesu liberavit a lege peccati et mortis.” Quamobrem eos Apostolus obsecrat : Non ergo regnet peccatum in vestro mor    tali corpore ut oboediatis concupiscentiis eius.”

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.”(I Jn 5:19) This is why the Apostle exhorts the faithful to overcome temptations by the power of God (Cf. I Cor 10:13) and to “stand against the wiles of the Devil”(Eph 6:11) by faith, watchful prayer (Ct Eph 6:16, 18) and an austerity of life that brings the body into subjection to the Spirit. (Ct I Cor 9:27)

 Haec autem liberatio, etsi aptos nos reddit ad serviendum Deo in novitate vitae, minime tollit concupiscentiam ex originali peccato ortam, neque invitamenta ad malem in hoe mundo, qui totes in maligno positus est.” Quare Apostolus fide    les adhortatur, ut vitiorum illecebras vincant virtute Dei,I et stare valeant adversus insidias diaboli “ per fidem, vigil orandi studium “° et vitae austeritatem, qua corpus in servitetem Spi    ritus redigatur.⁴’

Living the Christian life by following in the footsteps of Christ requires that everyone should “deny himself and take up his cross daily,”(Lk 9:23) sustained by the hope of reward, for “if we have died with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”  (II Tim 2:11-12)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.

Vita christiana, quae vestigia Christi insistat, postulat ut unusquisque abneget seipsum et tollat crucem suam cotidie,’ spe remunerationis suffultus : nam si commortui sumus, et con    vivemus; si sustinemus, et conregnabimus.’Secundum vehementia huiusmodi monita, christifideles no    stris quoque temporibus, immo hodie magis quam alias um    quam, media adhibere debent semper ab Ecclesia commendata ad vitam castam ducendam, quae sunt : sensuum ac mentis disciplina, vigilantia ac predentia in praecavendis peccandi occasionibus, pudoris custodia, sobrietas in oblectationibes fruendis, sanae occupationes, assidua precatio sacramentorum    que Paenitentiae et Eecharistiae creber usus. Iuvenes praesertim sedulo foveant pietatem erga Immaculatam Dei Genitricem, atque ad imitandem sibi proponant Sanctorum vitam aliorumque christifidelium, in primis iuvenum, qui in excolenda castitate ceteris praestiterunt.

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.

Peculiari autem modo opus est, ut omnes magni existiment virtutem castitatis, eius pulchritudinem eiusque refulgentem splendorem. Quae quidem virtus hominis dignitatem in lece ponit eumque aperit ad amorem verum, magnanimum, non suae utilitatis studiosum, aliorumque observantem.

13. 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.

 13. Proprium Episcoporum officium est fideles docere moralem doctrinam, quae ad sexualitatem pertinet, quaecumque forte occurrant difficultates in hoe munere implendo, propter cogitandi vivendique rationes, quae passim hodie invalescunt. Haec autem translaticia doctrina altius investiganda est; praeterea ea ratione est tradenda, ut conscientias illuminet in novis rerum condicionibus constitutas; ac denique sapienter ditari debet iis elementis, quae de significatione ac vi sexualitatis humanae vere utiliterque proferri possint. At principia ac normae de vita morali, quae per hanc Declarationem confirmata sunt, fideliter retineri ac doceri debent. Opera peculiari modo danda erit, ut fideles sibi persuadeant Ecclesiam haec principia tueri non tamquam vetustas et inviolabiles res superstitiose servandas, neque, ut saepe contenditur, ob praeiudicatam quandam opinionem quae Manichaeismum sapiat, sed quia certo scit eadem principia plane respondere divinae creatarum rerum ordinationi et Christi spiritui, ac propterea humanae quoque dignitati.

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.

Episcoporum etiam est invigilare, ut in theologicis Facultatibus atque in Seminariis sana doctrina exponatur, sub lumine fidei et Ecclesiae magisterio duce. Pariter ipsis curae erit, ut et confessarii conscientias illuminent et institutio catechetica impertiatur tali ratione, quae fideliter ac perfecte doctrinam catholicam referat.

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.

Ad Episcopos, sacerdotes eorumque adiutores spectat fideles munere, ut sibi caveant ab erroneis opinionibus, quae in libris, commentariis ac publicis conventibus saepe proferuntur.

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.

Parentes in primis, necnon iuvenum praeceptores annitentur, ut per integram educationem liberos et discipulos ad congruam mentis, affectuum et morum maturitatem perducant. Propterea eos de hac etiam materia edocebunt cum prudentia ac modo ad ipsorum aetatem accommodato, eorumque voluntatem assidue ad christianos mores informabunt non solum consi his, verum etiam ac potisimum vitae suae exemplo, Dei auxilio suffulti, quod sibi precando impetrabunt. Eos etiam a tot periculis defendent, quae iuvenes minime suspicantur.

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.

Artifices, scriptores iique omnes, penes quos sunt instrumenta communicationis socialis, artem suam exerceant ratione suae christianae fidei consentanea, plane conscii de vi permagna, qua in homines pollere possunt. Hi meminerint obiectivi ordinis moralis primatum absolute omnibus tenendum esse,’ eique fas non esse praeponere ullam rationem, quam dictitant aestheticam, vel quaestuosa commoda, vel prosperum inceptorum exitum. Sive agitur de artis vel litterarum operibus, sive de spectaculis, sive de nuntiis evulgandis, unusquisque in provincia sibi propria circumspectionem, prudentiam, moderationem ac rectam rerum aestimationem prae se ferat. Hoe profecto modo, nedum faveant augescenti morum licentiae, operam conferent ad eam refrenandam, immo ad saniorem reddendum moralem societatis statum.

⁴⁴  Second Vatican Ecumenical Council decree “Inter Mirifica,” 6 AAS 56 (1964), p. 147.

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.

F’idelibus laicis universis, pro suis iuribus et officiis in opere apostolatus, curae erit, ut ad hanc agendi rationem sese conforment.

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]

Praestat denique omnium in memoriam revocare haec Concilii Vaticani II verba : Sancta Synodus declarat pueris ac adolescentibus ius esse ut in valoribus moralibus recta conscientia aestimandis et adhaesione personali amplectendis necnon in Deo perfectius cognoscendo et diligendo instimulentur. Ideo enixe rogat omnes qui vel populorum regimen tenent vel educationi praesunt, ut curent ne umquam iuventus hoe sacro iure privetur.’

⁴⁵  “Gravissimum Educationis,” 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 730.

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.

Declarationem hanc de quibusdam quaestionibus, ad sexualem ethicam spectantibus, Summus Pontifex Paulus div. Prov. PP. VI, in Audientia concessa infrascripto Praefecto Sacrae Congregationis pro Doctrina Fidei, die 7 mensis Novembris, a. 1975, ratam habuit, confirmavit atque evulgari iussit.

Given in Rome, at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on December 29th, 1975.

Datum Romae, ex aedibus S. Congregationis pro Doctrina Fidei, die 29 mensis Decembris, a. 1975.