Marriage, which undergirds the institution of the family, is constituted by the covenant whereby "a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of their whole life", and which "of its own very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and to the procreation and upbringing of children".
Pope John Paul II Letter to Families |
Marriage, the Foundation of Society
Marriage is the very foundation of society. It is the institution that provides for procreation, a mother and a father and a stable family structure, which are so important to the development of children. The family with a mother and father is where the next generation is nurtured and formed. Without these conditions it simply cannot be marriage. A legal relationship that is not life giving and excludes the possibility of a mother or a father can never be marriage.
History has shown that there cannot be a strong nation without marriage and strong families. This is a significant reason that societies have laws to encourage and protect marriage.