Openness to Life
Marriage is ordered to the procreation and education of children, and conjugal love is inseparably both unitive and procreative.
CCC 1652–1654, 2366–2379
Key Points
The central teachings from this section of the Catechism.
By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love are ordered to the procreation and education of children. Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves.
The fruitfulness of married love extends to the moral, spiritual, and supernatural life. Couples who cannot have children can still have a conjugal life full of meaning: through hospitality, sacrifice, and service they bear fruit in other ways.
Fecundity is a gift and an end of marriage. Conjugal love naturally tends toward being fruitful. The two meanings of the conjugal act — the unitive and the procreative — may never be artificially separated.
For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. Periodic continence (Natural Family Planning) respects the bodies of the spouses and encourages tenderness. In contrast, every action that renders procreation impossible is intrinsically evil.
From the Catechism
"By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love are ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory."
— CCC 1652, quoting Gaudium et Spes 48 §1
"A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment."
— CCC 2366, quoting Familiaris Consortio 14
"The child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The 'supreme gift of marriage' is a human person. A child may not be considered a piece of property."
— CCC 2378
Scripture
"And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth."
"When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or I shall die!' Jacob said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?'"
Common Questions
Natural Family Planning works with the body's natural fertility cycles, choosing to abstain during fertile periods when spacing births. Contraception artificially blocks or destroys fertility. The moral difference lies in whether the couple respects or suppresses the procreative meaning of the conjugal act.
The Church recognizes that infertility can be a great suffering. Such couples are called to find other forms of fruitfulness: adoption, foster care, service to others, and spiritual parenthood. Their marriage remains fully valid and fully graced.
No. The Church teaches "responsible parenthood." Spouses should generously welcome children, but for just reasons — physical, economic, psychological, or social — they may legitimately space births using Natural Family Planning. What is required is openness to life, not a specific number of children.
Openness to life is at the heart of what marriage is. Whether through bearing children or through the many other ways married love bears fruit, every couple is called to a generous, life-giving love.