Casti connubii
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Casti connubii

Casti connubii (Latin: "of chaste wedlock") is a papal encyclical promulgated by Pope Pius XI on 31 December 1930 in response to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion. It stressed the sanctity of marriage, prohibited Catholics from using any form of artificial birth control, and reaffirmed the prohibition on abortion. It also explained the authority of church doctrine on moral matters, and advocated that civil governments follow the lead of the church in this area.

Casti connubii was a response to the Lambeth Conference of 1930 in which the Anglican Communion approved the use of birth control in limited circumstances. It covered four major topics: the sanctity of marriage, opposition to eugenics, positions on birth control and the purpose of sexuality, and reaffirmation of the prohibition on abortion.

Pope Pius XI's encyclical references and confirms Arcanum (1880) on Christian marriage by Pope Leo XIII. Catholic doctrine has always[citation needed] considered matrimony to be a most holy state of life for those called to the married life (see Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica; or Augustine of Hippo's On the Goods of Marriage). This encyclical reaffirms that marriage is a sacrament, and a means to sanctifying grace.

The encyclical also affirms the church's opposition to adultery and divorce, and its support of wives as homemakers. It calls for wives to be obedient to their husbands, while commanding husbands to love their wives as "Christ loved His Church".

This ... does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband's every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; ... For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love.

Casti connubii speaks out against the eugenics laws, then popular, that forbade those deemed 'unfit' from marrying and having children: "Those who act in this way are at fault in losing sight of the fact that the family is more sacred than the State and that men are begotten not for the earth and for time, but for Heaven and eternity."

He also expresses a strong sentiment in favor of good breeding and even goes as far as to say "that which is of a Eugenic indication may and must be accepted."

It also took a strong stand against forced sterilizations. Pius XI stated that if no crime has taken place and there is no cause present for grave punishment, magistrates have no direct power over the bodies of their subjects. He cited Thomas Aquinas:

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