The Nature of Human Sexuality

Author: Gerald M. Kimario, AJ

The nature of human sexuality is part and parcel of the teachings of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. This is discussed in Gaudium et Spes particularly Chapter One of Part Two.^[1] The chapter provides guidelines for promoting the dignity of marriage and the family in the modern world. Such guidelines are carefully built on sound teaching about the nature of human sexuality. In that context, the promotion of marriage and family dignity calls for a clear understanding of the nature of human sexuality as per the teachings of the Council.

The nature of human sexuality is rooted in the divine love. This is expressed through self-giving in the unity of body and spirit. The unity of the male and female body expresses their masculinity and femininity as complementary gifts. In that sense, the nature of human sexuality describes an integrating aspect of the concrete capacity for love that God inscribed in them.

The Fathers of the Council testified that the “sexual nature of man and woman and the human faculty of reproduction are wonderfully superior to what is possessed in the lower stages of life.”^[2] Such a conviction brings humanity to the central role of stewardship through discharging their office of procreating with responsible generosity. The superiority of the human sexual nature possessed over other forms of life is linked to the image and likeness of God.

It is indisputable that those human acts proper to married life are directed accordingly as shaped by objective moral standards. They are guided by the gift of fertility expressed by the concrete capacity for love inscribed in them by the Creator. Similarly, the Fathers of the Council reiterated that “those acts which are proper to married life and directed in accordance with true human dignity are to be treated with great respect.”^[3] The nature of the human acts proper to the function ought to be the genital sexuality determined by objective moral standards and not otherwise.

Elsewhere, the nature of human sexuality, the nature of the human person, and his acts preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love. Relying on such principles, the Church may not undertake methods of regulating procreation that are contrary to the teaching authority of the divine law. As a result, the transmission of life and moral character are determined by objective criteria.

The complementarity element reinforces the principle of human dignity in the sense that masculinity and femininity are of equal dignity. In that sense, the nature of human dignity is twofold dignity that is intrinsic and acquired dimensions. This is rooted in the mystery of creation that human being is created in the image and likeness of God (Gn. 1:26). Accordingly, the Church sees in every person, the living image of God himself.^[4] As a result, the human person receives an incomparable and inalienable dignity from God himself.

Consequently, the dignity of the human person implies and requires uprightness of moral conscience^[5] which calls for formation. Such formation ought to be guided by the precepts of natural law in understanding the nature of human sexuality. The highlighted complementarity respects their differences i.e., the masculinity and femininity gifts. Thus, the faculty of procreation exceeds the lower forms of life.

Moreover, the nature of human sexuality during this era took particular care guided by key principles. These include the finality of the sexual act, the principle criterion of its morality, and respect for its finality that ensures the moral goodness of this act. Based on the nature of the human person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in true love.^[6] Similarly, the Church holds from divine revelation, and her authentic interpretation of the natural law, is also the basis of her traditional guidelines in understanding the nature of human sexuality.

In conclusion, the nature of human sexuality is rooted in the divine love expressed through self-giving in the unity of body and spirit. In that sense, human sexuality describes an integrating aspect of the concrete capacity for love that God inscribed in humanity. The human faculty of reproduction is wonderfully superior to what is possessed in the lower stages of life. The unity of the male and female body expresses their masculinity and femininity as complementary gifts. Such complementarity reinforces the principle of human dignity in the sense of equal dignity. Thus, the nature of human sexuality ought to be exercised by the genital organs proper to its function as determined by objective moral standards.

[1] Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes 7 December 1965.

[2] Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, no. 51.

[3] Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, no. 51.

[4] Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2012), no. 105. The image finds, and must always find new, and ever deeper and fuller unfolding of itself in the mystery of Christ, the Perfect Image of God, the One who reveals to man and man to him/herself.

[5] Interdicasterial Commission, Catechism of the Catholic Church, rev. ed. (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2010), no. 1780.

[6] Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, no. 49.