One wife is enough, decrees Pope Leo XIV. And divorce doesn’t exist

“Happily ever after” does not require complicated calculations, the Vatican said this Tuesday: for Catholics, one spouse is enough.

In a new decree approved this Tuesday by the Pope Leo XIVthe Vatican’s main doctrinal body informed the approximately 1.4 billion Catholics throughout the world that they should seek to marry a single person for life — and that they should not have multiple sexual relations.

Criticizing the practice of polygamy in Africaincluding among members of the Church, the Vatican reiterates that it considers marriage a lifetime commitment between a man and a woman.

The decree, which Does not address same-sex relationshipsfocused on what he called “wealth and fertility” of traditional marriage, encouraging Catholics to find one spouse and commit to it.

“Every authentic marriage is a union composed of two individualswhich requires a relationship so intimate and totalizing that it cannot be shared with others”, states the decree.

“Marriage being a union between two people with exactly the same dignity and the same rights, demands exclusivity”, adds the text.

The question of How to better apply Church teachings on marriage was debated at two Vatican summits, in 2023 and 2024, meetings organized by the late Pope Francis to debate the future of Catholicism with hundreds of cardinals and bishops.

Polygamy in Africa, where many Catholics participate in ancient cultural practices that involve maintain more than one committed relationshipwas the subject of lively discussion at these summits, recalls .

The increase in polyamorous relational structuresin which people maintain simultaneous relationships with several partners, 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”, states the new decree.

The document does not address divorcewhich the Church does not recognize, as it considers marriage to be a lifelong commitment.

The Catholic Church, however, has a process of declaration of nullity matrimonial, which assesses whether marriages were validly contracted, and highlights that Spouses are not expected to remain in abusive relationships.