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Archdiocese of Denver
Pope Francis described this in his encyclical Laudato Si':
The acceptance of our bodies as God's gift is vital for welcoming and accept-
ing the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas
thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often
subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to
accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essen-
tial element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one's own body in
its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize
myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can
joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God
the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which
would seek "to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how
to confront it" (ยง155).
God has created the body and human sexuality to help humanity reach its
true happiness in the gift of self for others. This gift finds expression not only in
the complete gift of a man and woman in marriage, but also in the lives of those
called to celibacy or to remain single, as they use their bodies to express love
through their service to others.
THE CHURCH'S VISION OF THE PERSON AND SEXUALITY
