Dynamics of development of the Catholic magisterium on marriage at the end 19th — first half of the 20th century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the development of the papal magisterium on family and marriage at the end of the 19th and the half of the 20th century, which was an important part of the social and political reforms of the roman Catholic Church. The work analyzes a significant number of official documents and other sources on the issue under study from the Renaissance to the end of the pontificate of Pius XI were analyzed, many of which, especially those related to authentic papal teaching, are little known to the Russian reader. Systematization of these materials allows us to form more objective picture of the issue that interests us. The topic covered in the article acquires even greater relevance in light of recent attempts by the current leadership of the Roman Church to soften the pseudo-ethical «values» of non-traditional relationships in the feeld of marriage, imposed by Western secular society as a norm and the right to freedom of choice. Since these trends run counter to the centuries-old traditional of the Catholicism on issues families, special attention is paid in the article to the conservative magisterium on this issue of Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV and Pius XI. This makes is possible to trace the evolution of this doctrine over the past century and a half and assess the scale of its regression at the present time.

Keywords:

сhurch, papal magisterium, Christian marriage, Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, socio-political doctrine