Decree of the Holy Office, April 1, 1944

Denzinger. no. 2295
The Purposes of Matrimony

Decree of the Holy Office, April 1, 1944 

2295 Certain publications concerning the purposes of matrimony, and their interrelationship and order, have come forth within these last years which either assert that the primary purpose of matrimony is not the generation of offspring, or that the secondary purposes are not subordinate to the primary purpose, but are independent of it.

In these works different primary purposes of marriage are designated by other writers, as for example: the complement and personal perfection of the spouses through a complete mutual participation in life and action; mutual love and union of spouses to be nurtured and perfected by the psychic and bodily surrender of one’s own person; and many other such things.

In the same writings a sense is sometimes attributed to words in the current documents of the Church (as for example, primary, secondary purpose), which does not agree with these words according to the common usage by theologians.

This revolutionary way of thinking and speaking aims to foster errors and uncertainties, to avoid which the Most Eminent and Very Reverend Fathers of this supreme Sacred Congregation, charged with the guarding of matters of faith and morals, in a plenary session, on Wednesday, the 28th of March, 1944, when the question was proposed to them “Whether the opinion of certain recent persons can be admitted, who either deny that the primary purpose of matrimony is the generation and raising of offspring, or teach that the secondary purposes are not essentially subordinate to the primary purpose, but are equally first and independent,” have decreed that the answer must be: In the negative.

1946 Catholic U. Professor Article

In 1946, a theology professor at Catholic University of America wrote an article about this decree of the Holy Office.

“… With a view to settling this question, the members of the Congregation of the Holy Office, assembled in plenary session, on March 29, 1944, discussed this dubium: “Can the opinion of certain writers be admitted who either deny that the primary end of marriage is the procreation and rearing of offspring, or teach that the secondary ends are not essentially subordinate to the primary end, but are equally principal and independent?” The answer was in the negative, and on the following day Pope Pius XII approved this decision and commanded that it be made a matter of public law.”

Connell, Francis J. “The Catholic Doctrine on The Ends of Marriage.” Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 1. (1946): 34-45.
New York City, New York. June 25-26, 1946