The Vatican has issued a new decree, approved by Pope Leo, reaffirming its stance that Catholics should commit to one spouse for life.
The Holy See’s top doctrinal office told the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Tuesday that a singular commitment is paramount, explicitly discouraging multiple sexual relationships.
The decree specifically criticised the practice of polygamy, including among its own members in Africa. It reiterated the Vatican’s belief that marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman.
The question of how to better enforce the Church’s teachings on marriage was debated at two Vatican summits in 2023 and 2024, which the late Pope Francis hosted to discuss the future of Catholicism with hundreds of cardinals and bishops.
Polygamy in Africa, where many Catholics take part in long-standing cultural practices of maintaining more than one committed relationship, was a topic of heated discussion at those summits.
Also discussed was the rise of polyamorous relationship structures, where individuals date multiple people at the same time, in some Western countries.
“Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in a succession of faces,” the new decree said.
The document does not discuss divorce, which the Church does not recognise as it views marriage as a lifelong commitment.
The Church, however, has an annulment process, which evaluates whether marriages were properly contracted, and stresses that partners are not expected to stay in abusive relationships.