Catholic Teaching on Sexual Sin

Many Christians believe all sins are equal, do Catholics believe this too?

No. The Catholic Church teaches that there are two different kinds of sins: mortal and venial (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1854-1864). This is because the Scriptures tell us there are two types of sin: one that leads unto death, or mortal, and one that does not lead unto death, or venial (1st John 5:16).

Many sins are habitual, or don’t constitute a serious matter, or don’t involve the full consent of the will. These sins are considered “venial,” which means they do not lead to spiritual death. They may not break our relationship with God, but they do harm our relationship with God. Consequently, Catholics may continue to receive communion, and remain in good standing with the Church, even when they’ve committed venial sin. However, they should seek to confess and repent of these sins whenever possible, because they can easily lead to mortal sin when left unchecked.

Some sins are very serious, involve a serious matter, and do involve the full consent of the will. In these cases, the sin is called mortal, because it does break our relationship with God. A mortal sin can lead to death, and by that is meant spiritual death. The soul in a state of mortal sin is in danger of hell. When one is in a state of mortal sin, one is not in good standing with the Church, and should not present one’s self for communion. Confession and repentance of all known mortal sins are necessary for salvation, and to return into a right relationship with God (a state of grace), and to restore a good standing in the Church.

What is the Catholic Church’s position on sexual sin?

The Catholic Church’s position on sexual sin is pretty basic and simple. Sexual relations, of all kinds, are forbidden, except between an adult married couple: one biological male and one biological female (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2337, 2350-2363). This puts a whole lot of popular sexual activity outside of what the Catholic Church permits as lawful.

The following sexual activities are examples of sexual sin according to Catholic teaching: lust, voyeurism, masturbation, contraception, fornication, homosexuality, polygamy, polyamory, pederasty, pedophilia, rape, sodomy, bestiality, etc. All of these sexual activities are considered unlawful, according to Catholic teaching, regardless of what is allowed by civil law, requiring confession and repentance. The degree of sin can vary, whether mortal or venial, depending on the type and circumstances. However, these activities are always considered sinful.

That being said, the temptation to commit sexual sin (of any kind) is not a sin, and temptation (in and of itself) is not sinful. We know this because Jesus Christ was tempted to sin (Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1-13), even though he never committed any sin (Hebrews 4:15). Thus, temptation and sin are two different things. Wanting to do something is not the same as doing it. The sin is in the doing, not the wanting, but we should examine why we want things that are sinful. More often than not, passing desires to commit sin (temptations) are rooted in misbeliefs, lies or sources outside ourselves. So merely having a passing desire to commit a sexual sin (sexual temptation) does not constitute sin (in itself) according to Catholic teaching. When it comes to sexual sin, the action is what counts, not the temptation.

If, however, one is subjected to constant temptation, one should try to discover the reasons why. Sometimes our own actions or misbeliefs can make us more vulnerable to unnecessary trials.

Lust, for example, is a sin committed primarily in the mind. The Catechism defines it as “disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure” that is rooted in pleasure in itself, for pleasure’s sake, without the unitive or procreative purposes it was designed for (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2351). Lust is rooted in the misbelief that sexual activity is primarily for personal entertainment, and really doesn’t have much meaning beyond that. When this misbelief is corrected, the temptation to lust is greatly reduced.

What is the Catholic Church’s position on abortion?

The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is the murder of innocent human life: always, all the time, no exceptions (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2270-2275). This is a mortal sin, and those who procure an abortion are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church (Code of Canon Law 1398). This means everyone involved in the process, not just the mother and abortionist. It also includes everyone who works at the abortion clinic, the husband/boyfriend who drove the mother in for the appointment, the person who knowingly consented to pay for the procedure, the political activist who lobbied to legalize the procedure, the judge who legalized the procedure in court, and the politician who voted to keep the procedure legal. This applies to all persons at least sixteen years of age (Code of Canon Law 1323, 1325). In fact, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), by no means a politically conservative body, has explicitly stated that it is impossible to be pro-abortion (pro-choice) and remain Catholic (National Council of Catholic Bishops, Fall 1989 conference resolution of November 8, 1989).

However, medical procedures, designed to save the life of the mother, do not qualify as an abortion, so long as there is no intent to kill the unborn child. This is called the “principle of double effect.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1752, 1754, 1756, 1759) The death of the unborn child may be the unintended result of the procedure, with both the doctor and patient knowing this in advance. So long as the desire to kill the baby (or terminate the pregnancy) is not present in such a medically-necessary procedure, it is not an abortion, nor is it murder, even if both the doctor and patient know that termination of the pregnancy will be the likely result. Such rare circumstances qualify as “double effect” because both lives (baby and mother) are equally valuable, and losing both would be a greater evil than losing one. “If medical treatment or surgical operation, necessary to save a mother’s life, is applied to her organism (though the child’s death would, or at least might, follow as a regretted but unavoidable consequence), it should not be maintained that the fetal life is thereby directly attacked.” – (Catholic Encyclopedia, Abortion, 1907)

What is the Catholic Church’s position on artificial contraception?

As stated above, the purpose of sex is both unitive and procreative within the context of marriage (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2351). According to Catholic teaching, sex has to serve these two purposes, within marriage, to be lawful. This is why the Catholic Church opposes all forms of artificial contraception (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2370 & 2399).

We have to stop and think about what sex is for. It’s not always for making babies. That’s only half of the reason, but it is half! Obviously, God doesn’t expect a wife to become pregnant with every conjugal act, and God does allow natural means in which spouses can space their children and still enjoy the regular unitive half of lawful sex within marriage. Likewise, spouses who experience infertility due to advanced age, or some other reason, may still experience the unitive half of sexual relations, which is blessed by God both in natural law and Church law. This isn’t about circumstances beyond human control. This is specifically about human beings taking too much control.

The whole biological purpose of sex is procreation, and from a purely biological perspective in natural law, that is its sole function. The pleasure that human beings derive from the conjugal act is an additional blessing from God that helps spouses strengthen the intimacy of their relationship. In other words, it helps improve their lifelong bond with each other. That’s why humans experience it. It may be the only reason why humans experience it, purely as a blessing from God. Creatures of the animal kingdom are not so blessed. They procreate by instinct and, for them, it’s not usually a pleasurable experience. They only do it because instinct tells them they must.

God has created the female body with a cyclic regularity that allows fertile couples to time their conjugal acts with periodic continence, in a way the Church recognizes as lawful and responsible family planning. The Vatican made judgements on this in 1853, 1880 and 1932 through the Apostolic Penitentiary, a dicastry of the Roman Curia. The latter judgement, in 1932, came just after the publication of Casti Connubii in 1930, the papal encyclical of Pope Pius XI condemning artificial contraception. The teaching of Pius XI, against artificial contraception, was reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. This encyclical specifically restates what the Church had already decided through the decisions of the Apostolic Penitentiary. “Neither the Church nor her doctrine is inconsistent when she considers it lawful for married people to take advantage of the infertile period…” (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 16) This is again reaffirmed in the Catechism (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2368).

Catholic married couples, who are fertile, are expected to use a process called “Natural Family Planning,” or NFP, if they wish to space their children and plan their family accordingly. Recent scientific and medical advances, which help spouses understand the thermo-symptomatic cycle of the female body, have made this method of spacing children highly reliable, even more reliable than most methods of artificial contraception. Scientific/medical advances, combined with modern technology, now make it possible for married couples to practice this effectively, and conveniently, producing reliable family planning without foreign devices or chemical hormones. All a married couple needs now is a thermometer, a smartphone, a little training and discipline. Truly, we are living in remarkable times.

What many of today’s Christians don’t understand is that all Christian denominations considered artificial contraception to be a grave sin, all the way up to 1930. All of the original Protestant Reformers condemned it, along with the founders of major Protestant denominations, including Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley (As quoted by Charles D. Provan, The Bible and Birth Control, 1989). It was the Anglicans who opened the door to artificial contraception in the 1930 Lambeth Conference. From there, the entire Protestant world caved in the decades that followed. Only the Catholic Church held the line, defending the ancient Christian teaching against it.

The Biblical prohibition against artificial contraception is in Genesis 38:8-10. This is backed by the early Church Fathers who likewise interpreted artificial contraception as a grave sin (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2, AD 195; Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies 9:12, AD 255; Lactantius, Divine Institutes 6:20, AD 307; St Augustine of Hippo, Marriage and Concupiscence 1:15:17, AD 419). The problem here is that artificial contraception, meaning an unnatural method of preventing pregnancy, completely closes off the procreative half of the conjugal act, reducing sex to mere entertainment for pleasure’s sake, otherwise known as lust. Unlike NFP, fertile spouses no longer remain open to the creation of life at all. They are attempting to have sex, while cutting out all possible means of creating children, when God has clearly given them those natural means through their fertility. The problem that results is this. What happens when contraception fails? All too often, couples will turn to abortion, because with contraception, they were never open to the possibility of new life to begin with.

Ultimately, this is about playing God to indulge in sexual pleasure. God has already given fertile spouses everything they need to plan their family reasonably. In failing to trust God, however, and the natural processes he created, the married couple has taken matters into their own hands, in a very unnatural, artificial, harmful and sinful way.

Was this short article helpful? If so, consider getting the book: Are Catholics Christian? by Shane Schaetzel. This short article is an excerpt from the book Are Catholics Christian? which has been used by clergy and catechists throughout North America in OCIA (RCIA) and other Catholic education programs. You can get the whole thing, in one short book, by clicking here.

Shane Schaetzel is an author of Catholic books and he is an Evangelical convert to the Catholic Church. His articles have been featured on LifeSiteNews, The Remnant Newspaper, Forward in Christ, and Catholic Online. You can read Shane’s books at ShaneSchaetzel.Com