From the bulletin of October 25, 2020
In February of 1880, Poe Leo XIII issued an encyclical on Marriage. Titled Arcanum Divinae, it was meant to reinforce the Church’s understanding of marriage and address a couple of relevant questions around that subject. We won’t cover the whole document, but focus on what he says about divorce, mixed marriages, and the involvement of the government.
Marriage is founded on the two principles of unity and indissolubility. These two reflect the love of God for humanity and Jesus raised marriage to a sacrament precisely so it could represent the marriage of Christ and the Church. Because of Original Sin, human nature was inclined to break these two principles through polygamy and divorce. Although the Mosaic covenant allowed divorce in certain circumstances, God made it clear even back then that he hated divorce. Jesus Christ, when asked about it, restored marriage to its original design and absolutely forbid divorce. Ever since, the world has found this demand of Christianity to be too much. In Leo’s own time, various groups were calling for Christianity to soften its stance on divorce, but of course the Pope refused and the Church’s teaching remains unchanged to this day, following the words of Jesus himself.
In response, Leo laid out the damage that divorce does to a society. He writes: “Matrimonial contracts are by it made variable; mutual kindness is weakened; deplorable inducements to unfaithfulness are supplied; harm is done to the education and training of children; occasion is afforded for the breaking up of homes; the seeds of dissension are sown among families; the dignity of womanhood is lessened and brought low, and women run the risk of being deserted after having ministered to the pleasures of men.”
In other words, it trivializes the importance of marriage, makes it easier for people to get away with general selfishness, and is bad for children. By making divorce readily available, a society inevitably tends towards more chaos as successive generations grow up with less stability in their childhood and therefore have less stability in their own families and the contributions they make to the world. I will add that the Church does allow for separation when one of the spouses poses a real danger to the other or to the children, but that this is not divorce – they are to remain faithful even in that difficult situation after the example of Jesus Christ who remains faithful despite the infidelity of his people.
While dealing with the challenges face by Catholic marriages, the pope does say “care also must be taken that they do not easily enter into marriage with those who are not Catholics.” His reason for this is that not having the same faith makes it much more difficult for spouses to maintain unity in their priorities and for them to raise the children according to the Church’s teaching. The Church has always discouraged Catholic from marring non-Catholics – called either a “mixed marriage” or “disparity of cult” – but it is not exactly forbidden. At different points in history it was harder or easier to marry a non-Catholic, but it was never encouraged as the ideal approach. Even today, a Catholic can marry a non-Catholic, but they have to get permission first. This doe not mean marriages with non-Catholics are automatically less holy or less loving. It is only that a difference in religion typically makes things harder and the Church wants to caution Catholics about that difficulty. When faced honestly and with maturity, it can be done and often is. My own parents were a mixed marriage for most of my life, and they made it work (33 years married), though they of course had to face some challenges and disagreements that two Catholics would not have faced.
In other writings, Pope Leo XIII expressed concerns that making marriage into a civil contract makes it more secular and easier for people to lose sight of its role in God’s plan for our salvation. He recognizes the government’s role in regulating the “civil effects” of marriage like property and taxes, but stresses the that marriage itself falls under the Church’s authority. He disliked the idea of a purely “civil marriage” because it reduced marriage to a social contract rather than a divine institution. Although Pope Leo doesn’t say anything about this, this concern does foreshadow the problems we have now with “gay marriage.” After decades of marriage being primarily a civil contract, the world lost sight of the reason it couldn’t just be redefined however they wanted. So, they redefined it.
Finally, if anything I’ve written here is problematic for you, I encourage you to speak with me about your concerns. . An in-person conversation is the best way to resolve any misunderstandings or concerns that simply can’t be covered in an article.
In Christ,
-Fr. Albert