DOES THE IMPEDIMENT OF IMPOTENCE VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS?

Abstract

The article discusses Canon 1084 of the Code of Canon Law (CIC) which considers the inability to engage in a sexual intercourse (impotence) as a matrimonial impediment resulting in the invalidity of marriage. A distinction is made between the absolute impotence (inability with any potential spouse) and the relative impotence (inability with a specific spouse), both of which must exist prior to the marriage. The article addresses ius connubii, the fundamental right to marry, guaranteed by the canon law and international acts such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The ecclesiastical law is based on the principles of natural law and a strict interpretation of matrimonial restrictions, treating impotence as a safeguard for the integrity of marriage and its purposes (bonum coniugum and bonum prolis). While this impediment limits the right to marry, it does not conflict with human rights but rather emphasises the spiritual and physical complementarity of the spouses. In this way the Church, being rooted in the traditional values, divergencesfrom the modern legal systems that redefine the concept of marriage.