Sexual images and identity have always been part of the Christian message — from the romantic tragedy of Adam and Eve to the condemnation of the new Babylon, ancient Rome, as a pandered prostitute with whom all the nations have drunk of the wine of fornication. (Rev 18.1-3)

Love at the centre

Such is the background to Pope Leo’s recent comments on the historic trend to focus on issues of sexual morality to the detriment of Catholic teaching on violence, war and human freedom.

“We tend to think
that when the church is talking about morality,
that the only issue of morality is sexual.
And in reality,
I believe there are much greater,
more important issues,
such as justice, equality,
freedom of men and women,
freedom of religion,
that would all take priority
before that particular issue.”

– Pope Leo – on the plane back from Africa

Catholic moral teaching is built on love; this is the first and greatest commandment, on which all other moral bonds depend. (Mt 22.27-40)

This insight flows from Jesus’ own experience of the Trinity whose very identity consists in giving, receiving and being love.

This growing understanding of the nature of love has led to the Church’s depiction of love as a journey, growing in stages from hidebound egoism to surrender to an other.

What follows is development of the image of marriage from the Tridentine stress on contract and debt to Vatican II’s vision of journey and nourishment.

Psychology and the body

The last century has given us a psychological and social interpretation of the sexual journey, the early stages of which are explored in the attachment theories of John Bowlby and Harry Harlow.

While Bowlby stressed the critical role of caregivers being constantly there for infant needs, Harlow’s research revealed the deep need that children have for tactile comfort and closeness.

Seventy years later the French cultural anthropologist Rene Girard developed the concept of mimesis. He outlined how babies come only gradually to the sense of their own individuality while their beliefs, prejudices and fears profoundly mirror those of their parents.

This craving for unity has deep social consequences: anyone who challenges it will be treated as a scapegoat, leading to fear and discrimination towards those of different cultures and ethnicity.

When the journey goes wrong

Because the sexual drive is so powerful, growing up normally includes fumbling encounters with self and others. With reflection and forgiveness, many will grow into more honest relationships.

Without this, there can arise serious distortions such as infidelity, pornography and seduction. The Epstein affair in the USA is a clear indicator how readily sexual abuse and control become linked to wealth, power and control.

Toward self-transcendence

In Fratelli Tutti Pope Francis reflected on the need to move out of an enclosed sense of self. (88) We now live with increasing awareness of the unity and common destiny of all nations.

This is why the pursuit of global peace, justice and freedom is needed for sexual relations to be lived out in honesty and self-transcendence.

Living in such a way frees each of us to accept our own limitations and see God in each and everyone. As Gerard Manley Hopkins put it:

I am all at once what Christ is,
since he was what I am,
and this Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood,
immortal diamond,
is immortal diamond.

• Neil Vaney is a New Zealand Marist priest, academic, and author. He is widely recognised for his expertise in moral theology and has written extensively on social justice, human rights, and the “Common Good.” For several years he served as the Director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre, an agency of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops.