Sex and gender roles in the Catholic Church

[2] Christian concepts, introduced into evangelized societies worldwide by the Church, had a significant impact on established cultural views of sex and gender roles.

Human sacrifice, slavery, infanticide and polygamy practiced by cultures such as those of the Roman Empire, Europe, Latin America and parts of Africa[3][4][5][6][7] came to an end through Church evangelization efforts.

The sexual act, according to the Church, is sacred within the context of the marital relationship that reflects a complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.

[15] Social structures at the dawn of Christianity in the Roman Empire held that women were inferior to men intellectually and physically and were "naturally dependent".

Many influential members of the church saw sex and other pleasurable experiences as evil and a source of sin when in the wrong context, unless meant for procreation.

Although the law attempted to strictly regulate prostitution, whorehouses abounded disguised as bathhouses or operated in secret within hotels and private residences.

[34] Fornication was seen as a serious sin and a canonical crime[35] and those convicted were required to "pay fines and court costs",[36] and they were often subject to public humiliation.

While males were now publicly whipped, females had their heads shaved[42] and were subject to expulsion from their homes, separation from their children, and the confiscation of their dowry.

[48] Indian slavery was first abolished by Pope Paul III in the 1537 bull Sublimis Deus which confirmed that "their souls were as immortal as those of Europeans" and they should neither be robbed nor turned into slaves.

[47][49][50] While the Spanish military was known for its ill-treatment of Amerindian men and women, Catholic missionaries are credited with championing all efforts to initiate protective laws for the Indians and fought against their enslavement.

Common Indian sexual practices such as premarital sex, adultery, polygamy, and incest were quickly deemed immoral by the missionaries and prohibited with mixed results.

"[58] In Mexico during 1807, people "cited women's behavior as a root cause of social problems" and thought that it would lead to the break-down of New Spain.

[57] In colonial and early-independent Mexico, male archbishops would use language "that either explicitly invoked patriarchal social norms or creatively reinforced them through adaptations of tropes of masculinity and femininity".

"[58] The Virgin Mary was held as a "role model" for women and young girls and was distinguished for her "passivity, self-denial, abnegation and chastity.

"[58] The Church disseminated a religious, maternal, and spiritual role component of the Virgin Mary "that governed attitudes and symbols sustaining women's status.

"[58] The indigenous Nahua women in colonial times were significantly noted for their lack of power and authority in their roles compared to men in the realm of the Catholic Church in Mexican society.

This "predominantly female lay organization whose central purpose is to keep vigil over the Blessed Sacrament overnight" was a unique because of "its implicit challenge to the Church's rigidly hierarchical gender ideology: the constitution of the Vela Perpetua mandated that women, and only women, were to serve as the officers of this mixed-sex, lay, devotional organization.

"[60] Scholars suspect that the woman-led organization "was predominately found in the small towns and cities of the central-western states of Guanajuato, Michoacán ́and Jalisco (a part of Mexico known as the Baj ́io).

The sexes are meant by divine design to be different and complementary, each having equal dignity and made in the image of God.

[15] The sexual act is sacred within the context of the marital relationship and reflects a complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.

[14] In his 1995 book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, John Paul II reflected on this concept by stating, Young people are always searching for the beauty in love.

[67] To acquire this virtue one is encouraged to enter into the "long and exacting work" of self-mastery that is helped by friendships, God's grace, maturity, and education "that respects the moral and spiritual dimensions of human life.

The 1968 papal encyclical Humanae vitae is a reaffirmation of the Catholic Church's traditional view of marriage and marital relations and a continued condemnation of artificial birth control.

It also recognizes that responsible parenthood sometimes calls for reasonable spacing or limiting of births and thus considers natural family planning as morally acceptable but rejects all methods of artificial contraception.

Clerical celibacy began to be demanded in the 4th century, including papal decretals beginning with Pope Siricius.

[101] Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Christifideles Laici, states that women have specific vocations reserved only for the female sex, and are equally called to be disciples of Jesus.

Conversely, the role of Eve in the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden affected the development of a Western notion of woman as "temptress".

Based on a reading of the Gospels that Christ selected only male Apostles, the Church does not ordain women to the priesthood (see above).

Pope Francis has been noted for his efforts to recognize feminine gifts and to increase the presence of women in high offices in the Church.

Sometimes it happened – when the Lord desired – that these raptures were so great that even though I was among people I couldn't resist them; to my deep affliction they began to made public.