Pope, in audience on Vatican II, upholds Council’s teaching on contraception and indissolubility of marriage

October 21, 2026

Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV devoted today’s audience (video) to the theme of “commitment to the family in today’s society.”

The audience, which took place in St. Peter’s Square, was the twenty-ninth audience in the series and the sixth devoted to the Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965). The audience was devoted to the first chapter of Part II of the pastoral constitution; the chapter is entitled “Fostering the nobility of marriage and family” (nos. 47-52).

In summarizing the Council’s teaching, Pope Leo upheld the indissolubility of marriage, condemned abortion and infanticide, and said that in matters of procreation, the judgement of the spouses’ consciences must “conform to divine law, as interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church.”

The Council “proposes a renewed conception of marriage as an ‘intimate partnership of married life and love,’“ Pope Leo said. “By incorporating the legal dimension of marriage as a contract, the foundation of this union is recognized in the ‘conjugal covenant,’ understood as the ‘human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each another.’“

Highlighting Vatican II’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, the Pope continued:

The mutual self-giving of man and woman, such that ‘they are no longer two but one flesh’ (Mt 19:6), underlies the requirement for “total fidelity” and the “unbreakable oneness” of the spouses, finding vivid expression in the procreation and upbringing of children (cf. GS, 48). As a reflection of the Divine Trinity, conjugal and parental love, through the Sacrament of Marriage, is “governed and enriched by Christ’s redeeming power”, so that spouses may love one another “just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf” (ibid.).

Turning to “conjugal love and marital fruitfulness,” the Pontiff summarized the Council’s teaching on contraception, abortion, and infanticide.

The fruitfulness of conjugal love is expressed in the procreation of children, “the supreme gift of marriage” (GS, 50). By transmitting and educating human life, which must never be rejected, spouses become “cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love” (ibid.).

Called to this human and Christian responsibility, they are bound to allow themselves to be guided by a sound judgement regarding their own good and that of their children, whether already born or yet to be born. Such a judgement, which, in the final analysis, the spouses themselves must form before God, requires that their conscience conform to divine law, as interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church in the light of the Gospel (cf. ibid.).

The emphasis on loving communion and procreative fruitfulness within marriage leads the Council to rule out the possibility of there being “a true contradiction … between the divine laws pertaining to the transmission of life, and those pertaining to authentic conjugal love” (GS, 51) and to affirm, instead, that “when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life”, one must “preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love” (ibid.).

From this it follows both that “from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care”, renouncing “abortion and infanticide”; and that “the acts themselves which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with genuine human dignity must be honoured with great reverence” (ibid.).

Recalling that the Council urged “all those with social responsibilities, especially in the political and cultural spheres, to fulfil their duty to ‘work efficiently for the welfare of marriage and the family,’“ Pope Leo said that “this task is more urgent than ever before.”

“The Church is well aware of this, as shown by the pastoral concern of the Popes who have succeeded one another since the last Council, right up to the two Synodal Assemblies convened by Pope Francis, which were addressed again in recent days by the Heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences,” he concluded. “May the Holy Family of Nazareth enlighten us on our journey and protect families throughout the world.”

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Audiences in series “Vatican Council II through its Documents”

• Introductory catechesis (1/7/26)

On Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (1965):

• God speaks to men as to friends (1/14/26)
• Jesus Christ reveals the Father (1/21/26)
• A single sacred deposit: The relationship between Scripture and Tradition (1/28/26)
• The Sacred Scripture: the Word of God in human words (2/4/26)
• The Word of God in the life of the Church (2/11/26)

On Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964):

• The mystery of the Church, sacrament of the union with God, and the unity of all humanity (2/18/26)
• No audience on 2/25 (Pope, Roman Curia on retreat)
• The Church, a Visible and Spiritual Reality (3/4/26)
• The Church, people of God (3/11/26)
• The Church, a Priestly and Prophetic People (3/18/26)
• On the foundation of the Apostles: The Church in her hierarchical dimension (3/25/26)
• Living stones in the Church and witnesses in the world: The laity in the People of God (4/1/26)
• Holiness and evangelical counsels in the Church (4/8/26)
• No audience on 4/15 and 4/22 (in Africa), followed by a special general audience on his apostolic journey to Africa (4/29/26)
• The Church, pilgrim in history towards the heavenly homeland (5/6/26)
• The Virgin Mary, model of the Church (5/13/26)

On Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963):

• The liturgy in the mystery of the Church (5/20/26)
• The reform of the liturgy: tradition and development (5/27/26)
• Rite, sign, and symbol (6/3/26)
• No audience on 6/10 (in Spain), followed by a special general audience on his apostolic journey to Spain (6/17/26)
• The mystery of the Eucharist (6/24/26)
• No audiences in July
• The prayer of the Church (8/5/26)
• The liturgical year (8/12/26)
• Sacred music (8/19/26)
• Motivations for liturgical reform (8/26/26)

On Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965):

• The Church: Listening to and Serving the World (9/2/26)
• Human dignity: gift and responsibility (9/9/26)
• The human community (9/16/26)
• The meaning of man’s activity throughout the world (9/23/26), followed by special general audience on his apostolic journey to France (9/30/26)
• The mission of the Church in the contemporary world (10/7/26)
• No audience on 10/14/26 (Pope hospitalized)
• Commitment to the family in today’s society (10/21/26)

 

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Further information:

• General Audience (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 10/21/26)
• Pope at Audience: We must urgently protect families and marriage (Vatican News, 10/21/26)