The Suffering Caused By
Infertility in Marriage
The suffering of spouses who
cannot have children or who are afraid of
bringing a handicapped child
into the world is a suffering that everyone must
understand and properly
evaluate.
On the part of the spouses,
the desire for a child is natural: it
expresses the vocation to
fatherhood and motherhood inscribed in conjugal
love. This desire can be
even stronger if the couple is affected by sterility
which appears incurable.
Nevertheless, marriage does not confer upon the
spouses the right to have a
child, but only the right to perform those natural
acts which are per se
ordered to procreation.|
A true and proper right to a
child would be contrary to the child's
dignity and nature. The
child is not an object to which one has a right, nor
can he be considered as an
object of ownership: rather, a child is a gift,
"the supreme gift"
and the most gratuitous gift of marriage, and is a
living testimony of the
mutual giving of his parents. For this reason, the
child has the right, as
already mentioned, to be the fruit of the specific act
of the conjugal love of his
parents; and he also has the right to be respected
as a person from the moment
of his conception.
Nevertheless, whatever its
cause or prognosis, sterility is certainly a
difficult trial. The
community of believers is called to shed light upon and
support the suffering of
those who are unable to fulfill their legitimate
aspiration to motherhood and
fatherhood. Spouses who find themselves in this
sad situation are called to
find in it an opportunity for sharing in a
particular way in the Lord's
Cross, the source of spiritual fruitfulness.
Sterile couples must not
forget that "even when procreation is not possible,
conjugal life does not for
this reason lose its value. Physical sterility in
fact can be for spouses the
occasion for other important services to the life
of the human person, for
example, adoption, various forms of educational work,
and assistance to other
families and to poor or handicapped children."