Pope Leo Updates Marriage Rules for 1.4 Billion Catholics

By Jordan King

US News Reporter

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Pope Leo XIV has issued a new decree stressing that marriage is between two people and speaking out against polyamory.

On Tuesday, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the document "One Flesh: In Praise of Monogamy" in Italian.

"Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in the succession of partners," it said, according to a translation by the Catholic News Agency.

Newsweek has contacted the Holy See for comment via email.

Why It Matters

The Vatican's updated position comes at a time when social and legal acceptance of nonmonogamous relationships—including polygamy and polyamory—is growing in some regions.

Bishops in Africa, where some communities practice polygamy, had asked the Holy See for guidance on the issue. But the decree also comes amid a rise of polyamory in Western countries, which has generated pastoral and doctrinal questions for clergy and the faithful.

By reiterating monogamy as central to Catholic marriage, the Church seeks to provide clear direction to its global membership and respond to new pastoral realities, especially for those converting to Catholicism from differing backgrounds. The decree applies to Catholics across the globe, which the Vatican's Central Office of Church Statistics numbers at 1.4 billion.

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What To Know

The Vatican's doctrinal decree affirms that marriage must involve two individuals, reciprocally committed for life.

"Only monogamy guarantees that sexuality develops within a framework of recognizing the other as a subject with whom one shares one's life entirely, a subject who is an end in himself and never a means to one's own needs," the document said. "Sexual union, which involves the whole person, can treat the other as a person, that is, as a co-subject of love and not an object of use, only if it develops within the framework of a unique and exclusive belonging."

The document is explicitly critical of polyamory, adding that "various problems have arisen from an excessive and uncontrolled pursuit of sex, or from the simple denial of its procreative purpose."

It also argues that "the defense of monogamy is also a defense of the dignity of women" because "the unity of marriage implies, therefore, a free choice on the part of the woman, who has the right to demand exclusive reciprocity."

What People Are Saying

The Vatican said in its decree: "Those who give themselves fully and completely to the other can only be two."

Sister Esther Lucas Jose Maria, a Mozambican member of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, asked for guidance on the topic in August, saying: "We have told the bishops that we have many people who are living in polygamous situation who come to ask for baptism or other sacraments, and sometimes we have no answer to them. As theologians we have to think about it, to reflect about it, and to give the pastoral ways and to help these people."

What Happens Next

The Vatican's updated guidance is intended for bishops, priests and lay Catholics around the world, with special attention to pastoral guidance for those in or affected by polygamous and nonmonogamous relationships.

The doctrinal note serves as study and formation material for clergy and Catholic communities, reinforcing the exclusive nature of marriage.

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