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III. Safeguarding Peace
Peace
§2302
By recalling the commandment, «You shall not kill,» 93 our Lord
asked for peace of heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral.
Anger is a desire for revenge. «To desire vengeance in order to do evil to
someone who should be punished is illicit,» but it is praiseworthy to
impose restitution «to correct vices and maintain justice.» 94
If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a
neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin. the Lord says,
«Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to
judgment.» 95
§2303
Deliberate hatred is contrary to charity. Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when
one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when
one deliberately desires him grave harm. «But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your
Father who is in heaven.» 96
§2304
Respect for and development of human life require peace. Peace is not merely
the absence of war, and it is not limited to maintaining a balance of powers
between adversaries. Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the
goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of
persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity. Peace is
«the tranquillity of order.» 97 Peace is the work of justice
and the effect of charity.98
§2305
Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic
«Prince of Peace.» 99 By the blood of his Cross, «in his
own person he killed the hostility,» 100 he reconciled men with God
and made his Church the sacrament of the unity of the human race and of its
union with God. «He is our peace.» 101 He has declared:
«Blessed are the peacemakers.» 102
§2306
Those who renounce violence and bloodshed and, in order to safeguard human
rights, make use of those means of defense available to the weakest, bear
witness to evangelical charity, provided they do so without harming the rights
and obligations of other men and societies. They bear legitimate witness to the
gravity of the physical and moral risks of recourse to violence, with all its
destruction and death.103
Avoiding war
§2307
The fifth commandment forbids the intentional destruction of human life.
Because of the evils and injustices that accompany all war, the Church
insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action so that the divine Goodness
may free us from the ancient bondage of war.104
§2308
All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.
However, «as long as the danger of war persists and there is no
international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments
cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have
failed.» 105
§2309
The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous
consideration. the gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous
conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
- the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations
must be lasting, grave, and certain;
- all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be
impractical or ineffective;
- there must be serious prospects of success;
- the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to
be eliminated. the power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in
evaluating this condition.
These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the
«just war» doctrine.
The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the
prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.
§2310
Public authorities, in this case, have the right and duty to impose on citizens
the obligations necessary for national defense.
Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are servants of
the security and freedom of nations. If they carry out their duty honorably,
they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of
peace.106
§2311
Public authorities should make equitable provision for those who for reasons of
conscience refuse to bear arms; these are nonetheless obliged to serve the
human community in some other way.107
§2312
The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of the moral law
during armed conflict. «The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out
does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring
parties.» 108
§2313
Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be respected and treated
humanely.
Actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal
principles are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions. Blind
obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out. Thus the
extermination of a people, nation, or ethnic minority must be condemned as a
mortal sin. One is morally bound to resist orders that command genocide.
§2314
«Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole
cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man,
which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.» 109 A danger of
modern warfare is that it provides the opportunity to those who possess modern
scientific weapons especially atomic, biological, or chemical weapons - to
commit such crimes.
§2315
The accumulation of arms strikes many as a paradoxically suitable way of
deterring potential adversaries from war. They see it as the most effective
means of ensuring peace among nations. This method of deterrence gives rise to
strong moral reservations. the arms race does not ensure peace. Far from
eliminating the causes of war, it risks aggravating them. Spending enormous
sums to produce ever new types of weapons impedes efforts to aid needy
populations;110 it thwarts the development of peoples. Over-armament
multiplies reasons for conflict and increases the danger of escalation.
§2316
The production and the sale of arms affect the common good of nations and of
the international community. Hence public authorities have the right and duty
to regulate them. the short-term pursuit of private or collective interests
cannot legitimate undertakings that promote violence and conflict among nations
and compromise the international juridical order.
§2317
Injustice, excessive economic or social inequalities, envy, distrust, and pride
raging among men and nations constantly threaten peace and cause wars.
Everything done to overcome these disorders contributes to building up peace
and avoiding war:
Insofar as men are sinners, the threat of war hangs over them and will so continue until Christ comes again; but insofar as they can vanquish sin by coming together in charity, violence itself will be vanquished and these words will be fulfilled: «they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.» 111
IN BRIEF
§2318
«In [God's] hand is
the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind"
(⇒ Job 12:10).
§2319
Every human life, from
the moment of conception until death, is sacred because the human person has
been willed for its own sake in the image and likeness of the living and holy
God.
§2320
The murder of a human
being is gravely contrary to the dignity of the person and the holiness of the
Creator.
§2321
The prohibition of
murder does not abrogate the right to render an unjust aggressor unable to
inflict harm. Legitimate defense is a grave duty for whoever is responsible for
the lives of others or the common good.
§2322
From its conception, the
child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an
end or as a means, is a «criminal» practice (GS 27 # 3), gravely
contrary to the moral law. the Church imposes the canonical penalty of
excommunication for this crime against human life.
§2323
Because it should be
treated as a person from conception, the embryo must be defended in its
integrity, cared for, and healed like every other human being.
§2324
Intentional euthanasia,
whatever its forms or motives, is murder. It is gravely contrary to the dignity
of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator.
§2325
Suicide is seriously
contrary to justice, hope, and charity. It is forbidden by the fifth
commandment.
§2326
Scandal is a grave offense
when by deed or omission it deliberately leads others to sin.
§2327
Because of the evils and
injustices that all war brings with it, we must do everything reasonably
possible to avoid it. the Church prays: «From famine, pestilence, and war,
O Lord, deliver us.»
§2328
The Church and human
reason assert the permanent validity of the moral law during armed conflicts.
Practices deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal
principles are crimes.
§2329
«The arms race is
one of the greatest curses on the human race and the harm it inflicts on the
poor is more than can be endured» (GS 81 # 3).
§2330
«Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God» (⇒ Mt
5:9).
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not commit
adultery.112
You have heard that it was said, «You shall not commit adultery.»
But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.113
I. «Male and Female He Created Them . . .»
§2331
«God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving
communion. Creating the human race in his own image . . .. God inscribed in the
humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and
responsibility, of love and communion.» 114
«God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them»;115 He blessed them and said, «Be fruitful and multiply»;116 «When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.» 117
§2332
Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and
soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to
procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of
communion with others.
§2333
Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.
Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented
toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. the harmony of
the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the
complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.
§2334
«In creating men 'male and female,' God gives man and woman an equal
personal dignity.» 118 «Man is a person, man and woman equally
so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal
God.» 119
§2335
Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with
equal dignity though in a different way. the union of man and woman in marriage
is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity:
«Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife,
and they become one flesh.» 120 All human generations proceed from
this union.121
§2336
Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the Sermon on
the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: «You have heard that it was
said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who
looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart.» 122 What God has joined together, let not man put
asunder.123
The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as
encompassing the whole of human sexuality.
II. The Vocation to Chastity
§2337
Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality
within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual
being. Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is
expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the
relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift
of a man and a woman.
The virtue of chastity therefore involves the
integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
The integrity of the person
§2338
The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers
of life and love placed in him. This integrity ensures the unity of the person;
it is opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It tolerates neither a
double life nor duplicity in speech.124
§2339
Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery
which is a training in human freedom. the alternative is clear: either man
governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them
and becomes unhappy.125 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out
of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within,
and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains
such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses
forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and
skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."126
§2340
Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal
promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so:
self-knowledge, practice of an ascesis adapted to the situations that confront
him, obedience to God's commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and
fidelity to prayer. "Indeed it is through chastity that we are gathered together
and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented into multiplicity."127
§2341
The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue
of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses
with reason.
§2342
Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never
consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all
stages of life.128 The effort required can be more intense in
certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood
and adolescence.
§2343
Chastity has laws of growth which progress through
stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds
himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and
accomplishes moral good by stages of growth."129
§2344
Chastity represents an eminently personal task; it also
involves a cultural effort, for there is "an interdependence between personal
betterment and the improvement of society."130 Chastity presupposes respect for the rights of
the person, in particular the right to receive information and an education that
respect the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life.
§2345
Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God,
a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort.131 The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of
Baptism has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ.132
The integrality of the gift of self
§2346
Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its
influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery
is ordered to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a
witness to his neighbor of God's fidelity and loving kindness.
§2347
The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows
the disciple how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his
friends,133 who has given himself totally to us and allows us
to participate in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality.
Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with one's neighbor. Whether it
develops between persons of the same or opposite sex, friendship represents a
great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion.
The various forms of chastity
§2348
All the baptized are called to chastity. the Christian
has "put on Christ,"134 The model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful
are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of
life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his
affective life in chastity.
§2349
"People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is
suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy
which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a
remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law,
whether they are married or single."135 Married people are called to live conjugal
chastity; others practice chastity in continence:
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others.... This is what makes for the richness of the discipline of the Church.136
§2350
Those who are engaged to marry are called to live
chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of
mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one
another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection
that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity.
Offenses against chastity
§2351
Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of
sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself,
isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.
§2352
By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate
stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the
Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral
sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that
masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."137 "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for
whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose."
For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is
demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving
and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."138
To form an equitable judgment about the
subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into
account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of
anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate
moral culpability.
§2353
Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and
an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of
human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the
generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there
is corruption of the young.
§2354
Pornography consists in removing real or simulated
sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them
deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts
the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave
injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since
each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It
immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave
offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of
pornographic materials.
§2355
Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person
who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. the
one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his
Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.139 Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually
involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases
involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage
in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by
destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.
§2356
Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of
another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the
respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a
right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an
intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by
parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children
entrusted to them.
Chastity and homosexuality
§2357
Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between
women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward
persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the
centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely
unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts
as acts of grave depravity,140 tradition has always declared that "homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered."141 They are contrary to the natural law. They close
the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective
and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
§2358
The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual
tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered,
constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion,
and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.
These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians,
to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
§2359
Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the
virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support
of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and
should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
III. The Love of Husband and Wife
§2360
Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the
physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual
communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the
sacrament.
§2361
«Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another
through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something
simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as
such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the
love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until
death.» 142
Tobias got out of bed and said to Sarah, «Sister, get up, and let us pray and implore our Lord that he grant us mercy and safety.» So she got up, and they began to pray and implore that they might be kept safe. Tobias began by saying, «Blessed are you, O God of our fathers.... You made Adam, and for him you made his wife Eve as a helper and support. From the two of them the race of mankind has sprung. You said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; let us make a helper for him like himself.' I now am taking this kinswoman of mine, not because of lust, but with sincerity. Grant that she and I may find mercy and that we may grow old together.» and they both said, «Amen, Amen.» Then they went to sleep for the night.143
§2362
«The acts in marriage by which the intimate and chaste union of the
spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance of
these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the spouses in joy
and gratitude.» 144 Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure:
The Creator himself . . . established that in the [generative] function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment. They accept what the Creator has intended for them. At the same time, spouses should know how to keep themselves within the limits of just moderation.145
§2363
The spouses' union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the
spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values
of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple's spiritual life
and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.
The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold obligation of
fidelity and fecundity.
Conjugal fidelity
§2364
The married couple forms «the intimate partnership of life and love established
by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the conjugal covenant,
that is, in their irrevocable personal consent.» 146 Both give
themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no longer two;
from now on they form one flesh. the covenant they freely contracted imposes on
the spouses the obligation to preserve it as unique and
indissoluble.147 «What therefore God has joined together, let not
man put asunder.» 148
§2365
Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping one's given word. God is faithful. the
Sacrament of Matrimony enables man and woman to enter into Christ's fidelity
for his Church. Through conjugal chastity, they bear witness to this mystery
before the world.
St. John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their wives: I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us.... I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.149
The fecundity of marriage
§2366
Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to
be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the
mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual
giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which «is on the side
of life» 150 teaches that «each and every marriage act must
remain open 'per se' to the transmission of life.» 151 «This
particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is
based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own
initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative
significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.» 152
§2367
Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of
God.153 «Married couples should regard it as their proper mission
to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should realize that
they are thereby cooperating with the love of God the Creator and are, in a
certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill this duty with a sense of
human and Christian responsibility.» 154
§2368
A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of procreation.
For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is
their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness
but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood.
Moreover, they should conform their behavior to the objective criteria of
morality:
When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behavior does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practiced with sincerity of heart.155
§2369
«By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the
procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true
mutual love and its orientation toward man's exalted vocation to
parenthood.» 156
§2370
Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on
self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the
objective criteria of morality.157 These methods respect the bodies of
the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an
authentic freedom. In contrast, «every action which, whether in
anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the
development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a
means, to render procreation impossible» is intrinsically evil:158
Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality.... the difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.159
§2371
«Let all be convinced that human life and the duty of transmitting it are
not limited by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation and full
significance can be understood only in reference to man's eternal
destiny.» 160
§2372
The state has a responsibility for its citizens' well-being. In this capacity
it is legitimate for it to intervene to orient the demography of the
population. This can be done by means of objective and respectful information,
but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. the state may not
legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses, who have the primary
responsibility for the procreation and education of their children.161
It is not authorized to intervene in this area with means contrary to the moral
law.
The gift of a child
§2373
Sacred Scripture and the Church's traditional practice see in large families a
sign of God's blessing and the parents' generosity.162
§2374
Couples who discover that they are sterile suffer greatly. «What will you
give me,» asks Abraham of God, «for I continue
childless?» 163 and Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, «Give
me children, or I shall die!» 164
§2375
Research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged, on condition
that it is placed «at the service of the human person, of his inalienable
rights, and his true and integral good according to the design and will of
God.» 165
§2376
Techniques
that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person
other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely
immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and
fertilization) infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother
known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses'
«right to become a father and a mother only through each
other.» 166
§2377
Techniques
involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and
fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable.
They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. the act which brings
the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give
themselves to one another, but one that «entrusts the life and identity of
the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the
domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such
a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality
that must be common to parents and children.» 167 «Under the
moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not
willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of
the spouses' union .... Only respect for the link between the meanings of the
conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible
procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person.» 168
§2378
A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. the «supreme gift of
marriage» is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of
property, an idea to which an alleged «right to a child» would lead.
In this area, only the child possesses genuine rights: the right «to be
the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of his parents,» and «the
right to be respected as a person from the moment of his
conception.» 169
§2379
The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who
still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures
should unite themselves with the Lord's Cross, the source of all spiritual
fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned
children or performing demanding services for others.
IV. Offenses Against the Dignity of Marriage
Adultery
§2380
Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom at least one
is married to another party, have sexual relations - even transient ones - they
commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of mere desire.170 The
sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely.171
The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery; they see it as an image of the
sin of idolatry.172
§2381
Adultery is an injustice. He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He
does injury to the sign of the covenant which the marriage bond is,
transgresses the rights of the other spouse, and undermines the institution of
marriage by breaking the contract on which it is based. He compromises the good
of human generation and the welfare of children who need their parents' stable
union.
Divorce
§2382
The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that
marriage be indissoluble.173 He abrogates the accommodations that had
slipped into the old Law.174
Between the baptized, «a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be
dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death.» 175
§2383
The separation of spouses while maintaining the marriage bond can be legitimate
in certain cases provided for by canon law.176
If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal
rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be
tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.
§2384
Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the
contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till
death. Divorce does injury to the covenant of salvation, of which sacramental
marriage is the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by
civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in
a situation of public and permanent adultery:
If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn another's husband to herself.177
§2385
Divorce is immoral also because it introduces disorder into the family and into
society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children
traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and
because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society.
§2386
It can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce
decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law.
There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to
be faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who
through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage.178
Other offenses against the dignity of marriage
§2387
The predicament of a man who, desiring to convert to the Gospel, is obliged to
repudiate one or more wives with whom he has shared years of conjugal life, is
understandable. However polygamy is not in accord with the moral law."
[Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact,
directly negates the plan of God which was revealed from the beginning, because
it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony
give themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and
exclusive.» 179 The Christian who has previously lived in polygamy
has a grave duty in justice to honor the obligations contracted in regard to
his former wives and his children.
§2388
Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a
degree that prohibits marriage between them.180 St. Paul stigmatizes
this especially grave offense: «It is actually reported that there is
immorality among you . . . for a man is living with his father's wife.... In
the name of the Lord Jesus ... you are to deliver this man to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh....» 181 Incest corrupts family relationships
and marks a regression toward animality.
§2389
Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or
adolescents entrusted to their care. the offense is compounded by the
scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will
remain scarred by it all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for
their upbringing.
§2390
In a so-called free union, a man and a woman refuse to give juridical and
public form to a liaison involving sexual intimacy.
The expression «free union» is fallacious: what can «union» mean when the partners make no commitment to one another, each exhibiting a lack of trust in the other, in himself, or in the future?
The expression covers a number of different situations: concubinage, rejection of marriage as such, or inability to make long-term commitments.182 All these situations offend against the dignity of marriage; they destroy the very idea of the family; they weaken the sense of fidelity. They are contrary to the moral law. the sexual act must take place exclusively within marriage. Outside of marriage it always constitutes a grave sin and excludes one from sacramental communion.
§2391
Some today claim a «right to a trial marriage» where there is an
intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who
engage in premature sexual relations may be, «the fact is that such
liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship
between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect it from
inconstancy of desires or whim.» 183 Carnal union is morally
legitimate only when a definitive community of life between a man and woman has
been established. Human love does not tolerate «trial marriages.» It
demands a total and definitive gift of persons to one another.184
IN BRIEF
§2392
«Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being»
(FC 11).
§2393
By creating the human
being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the
other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual
identity.
§2394
Christ is the model of
chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according
to his particular state of life.
§2395
Chastity means the
integration of sexuality within the person. It includes an apprenticeship in
self-mastery.
§2396
Among the sins gravely
contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual
practices.
§2397
The covenant which
spouses have freely entered into entails faithful love. It imposes on them the
obligation to keep their marriage indissoluble.
§2398
Fecundity is a good, a
gift and an end of marriage. By giving life, spouses participate in God's
fatherhood.
§2399
The regulation of births
represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood.
Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to
morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or
contraception).
Catéchisme de l'Église catholique © Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1992.
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