(ZENIT News / Rome, 11.10.2025).- The Vatican’s doctrinal office is preparing to release a new document on marriage that promises to rekindle one of Christianity’s oldest convictions: that love between one man and one woman, lived in faithfulness and mutual belonging, remains not only possible but profoundly beautiful.
The text, titled We Two: In Praise of Monogamy. Doctrinal Note on the Value of Marriage, Exclusive Communion, and Mutual Belonging, will be published at the end of November 2025. It is the fruit of a long theological and pastoral reflection that began during the Synod on Synodality, when a group of African bishops asked Rome for a clear statement on how the Church should respond to the persistence of polygamy in certain regions of their continent.
Speaking at a Vatican press conference on November 4, Father Armando Matteo, secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, described the forthcoming document as “a word of truth spoken with charity.” He emphasized that the initiative did not arise from a desire to issue condemnations, but rather from a pastoral need voiced by the bishops themselves, who sought a solid doctrinal foundation to guide local Churches in their work of accompaniment.
“This request came from Africa,” Father Matteo noted. “From pastors who are deeply aware of the cultural and familial realities they face, but who also know that the Gospel calls every human love to a fullness that is both demanding and liberating.”
While the synods of 2014 and 2015 under Pope Francis focused mainly on the questions of divorce and access to the sacraments, they also surfaced a related concern: the ongoing tension between the Christian vision of monogamy and the widespread practice of polygamy in certain societies. That tension—often navigated quietly at the pastoral level—has now become the subject of explicit reflection by the universal Church.
According to Vatican sources, We Two will seek to reaffirm the enduring truth of Christian marriage as an exclusive and indissoluble covenant. It will explore the theological depth of monogamy, not merely as a social convention, but as a sign that participates in the mystery of Christ’s unbreakable bond with his Church. The note is expected to argue that monogamy reveals something essential about the human person’s capacity for fidelity, gift, and communion—values that stand in sharp contrast to the logic of possession or multiplicity.
The document will also address the pastoral dimension: how priests and bishops can walk with men and women who come from polygamous contexts, without compromising the integrity of the Church’s teaching. “Mercy without truth is sentimentality; truth without mercy is cruelty,” Father Matteo said during the announcement. “The Church must speak both languages, because both belong to love.”
Observers note that the forthcoming note represents a continuation of a broader trend under Pope Leo XIV, who has signaled a desire to bring moral clarity and theological coherence to the Church’s engagement with cultural pluralism. While his predecessor, Pope Francis, often encouraged pastoral flexibility and discernment, Leo’s approach seems to emphasize the harmony between doctrine and mercy, insisting that compassion is only authentic when rooted in truth.
At the same time, Vatican officials have suggested that the text will avoid polemical tones. Its purpose is not to criticize cultures, but to propose a vision of human love that transcends cultural boundaries. The Church, the authors argue, cannot ignore the historical weight of polygamy in many societies, yet it must also witness to the transforming power of grace that calls every human relationship to unity and faithfulness.
We Two is expected to present a theological synthesis rather than a legal directive. It will revisit key biblical and patristic sources, situating monogamy within the broader Christian anthropology that views man and woman as co-creators and co-pilgrims. Early drafts reportedly include meditations on the creation narrative in Genesis, the nuptial imagery of the Song of Songs, and Saint Paul’s comparison between marriage and Christ’s love for the Church in Ephesians 5.
The decision to title the document We Two—rather than adopting a more formal Latin phrase—was intentional. It underscores the intimacy of the relationship at stake, the mystery of two persons becoming one flesh and one vocation. “It is not a document for theologians alone,” said one source close to the drafting process. “It is meant to speak to the human heart, to say again that love, when it is exclusive, becomes fruitful and radiant.”
The text will be officially presented later this month at a press conference in the Holy See Press Office, where Father Matteo will be joined by several African bishops who contributed to the drafting process. Their presence, Vatican insiders say, reflects not only the global scope of the issue but also a growing maturity in the dialogue between the universal Church and the local Churches of Africa—whose vibrant faith and pastoral realism have increasingly shaped theological reflection in Rome.
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