Cardinal defends Catholic understanding of marriage

9th February 2023

A Vatican cardinal told Europe’s synodal continental assembly yesterday that the biblical vision of man and woman created in the image of God should serve as a “precious beacon for our debates and discernments.” He said it as voices within the Church, including in Ireland, insist Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality has to change and diverge from what Jesus taught.

Speaking on the third day of the week-long gathering in Prague, the outgoing prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, said that between God and the human person there is a resemblance that sets him apart from all other creatures on earth.

While this resemblance had been understood in spiritual terms, now the relational dimension is highlighted which recovers “the mediation of the body and its fundamental role in the life of the couple”.

“If it is true that the spiritual dimension of man and woman includes a resemblance to God, it should be noted that the human being is created by God as male and female, for a spiritual and corporal relationship of love between man and woman that makes them one flesh: . . . The image of God in man therefore includes the couple and its fruitfulness”, he said.

He also warned against changing Church teaching on marriage.