Vatican warns against rise in Polyamory, Says marriage is the exclusive partnership between a man and a woman

The Vatican has issued a strong warning against the rising acceptance of polyamory, firmly reiterating the Catholic Church’s teaching that marriage is defined as a stable, lifelong, and exclusive partnership between a man and a woman.

This new doctrinal document, titled “One Flesh – In Praise of Monogamy” and signed off by Pope Leo XIV, was written in response to the growing trend of “various public forms of non-monogamous unions, sometimes called ‘polyamory’ –... growing in the West.”

The 40-page document addresses both polyamory, which involves multiple consensual romantic relationships at once, and polygamy (one man with multiple wives), which has been a “pastoral challenge” discussed by Roman Catholic bishops in Africa.

The note states clearly that non-exclusive relationships are based on a fallacy:“Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in a succession of faces,” the note declares. “Our age, in fact, is experiencing various drifts with regard to love: an increase in divorces, the fragility of unions, the trivialization of adultery, and the promotion of polyamory.”

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office, explained that the document aims to set out the reasons for “the choice of a unique and exclusive union of love, a rich and total belonging to one another.”

The note not only defends the sanctity of exclusive marriage but also highlights a significant development in the church’s understanding of sex within that union: that it encompasses more than just having children.

In Catholic teaching, s3x within marriage has two aspects: The “unitive” aspect, which brings the couple closer together and is understood to reflect divine love and the “procreative” aspect, which relates to having children.

The latest doctrinal note emphasizes that “unity is the founding property” of marriage and that the “unitive purpose of s3xuality… is not limited to ensuring procreation.” This nuance about the importance of the unitive dimension of intimacy within marriage stands alongside the church’s prohibition against artificial contraception.