What does the Church teach about sexual ethics? Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not covert thy neighbour's wife.
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," (CDF, Persona humana 9). "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." (CDF, Persona humana 9).
To form an equitable judgement 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.
2354 Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, on 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 offence. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.
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.
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. 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 offence can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.
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. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favour 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.
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.
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, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically
disordered." (CDF, Persona humana 8). 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. They do not choose their homosexual
condition; for most of them it is 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 fulfil God's will in their lives
and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the
difficul-1 ties 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.
This site was last updated 16/09/03
