The measure of true love: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful

On 30 October, the Faculty of Theology of Lugano held the solemn inauguration of the 2025–2026 Academic Year, in the presence of the Rector, Prof. René Roux, the Grand Chancellor, H.E. Msgr. Alain de Raemy, teaching staff and students from the Faculty.

The Lectio Magistralis was delivered by Prof. Gabriella Gambino, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. The title of her lecture was inspired by the words used by Pope Leo XIV to define marriage in his homily for the Jubilee of Families on 1 June 2025: “’The measure of true love: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful’. The pastoral issue of the faith–marriage relationship”. These words marked the new Pope’s first clear reference to the idea of the family, raising fundamental questions at a time when the Church is reflecting on the causes of the growing number of failed marriages, the steady decline in marriages celebrated, the crisis of vocations, and the difficulty faced by younger generations in transmitting faith to their children.

Putting faith back at the centre of accompaniment to marriage

Starting from the meaning of the word measure, the core of the Lectio Magistralis highlighted the growing separation between fides and foedus – faith and the marital covenant – in today’s pastoral approach to the sacrament of marriage. In our current secularized world, many baptized people approach the sacrament with no real awareness of faith and without being guided through an adequate path of faith, running the risk of celebrating marriages that, in the end, are deprived of their Christian meaning. It is not uncommon for such such unions to later prove potentially null because of an increasingly widespread “cultural inability” to recognize and embrace the essential goods of marriage.

Addressing participants, Gambino said: “The recent experience of canonical jurisdiction is exactly what challenges our pastoral efforts, compelling us to reflect on how we can put faith back at the centre of marriage preparation for today’s generations.”

Promoting new paths of formation to make the sacrament of marriage come alive in the lives of spouses

Although faith is not a conditio sine qua non for the objective validity of the sacrament, it remains a fundamental inner disposition if the sacrament is to bear fruit. “A valid reception does not automatically mean a fruitful reception of the sacrament”, the Undersecretary continued. Yet fruitfulness is essential for the success of the marriage celebrated, for “the salus animarum of entire generations of spouses, and indeed for the future of the Church itself, to whose growth the Christian family – born of marriage – is called to contribute.”

It is therefore necessary to examine the pastoral consequences of an approach that sees the connection between faith and sacrament as merely external, effectively treating faith as unnecessary for the celebration of a valid marriage. The risk today is simply too great. Young people and adults struggle to grasp the meaning of indissolubility, openness to children, and fidelity – the natural goods that can be fully understood and embraced only with the help of faith. It is urgent, then, to reflect on the need to reconnect faith and sacrament in the pastoral ministry, giving rise to a renewed proclamation of the vocation to marriage.

Addressing, in particular, the many seminarians present, Prof. Gambino encouraged them to prepare diligently so they can boldly proclaim the vocation to marriage to both adolescents and young adults, and accompany engaged couples and spouses along a genuine path of faith. She urged the academic community to promote new programmes of theological, sacramental, and pastoral formation so as “to make the sacrament of marriage come alive in the lives of spouses.”

The Lectio Magistralis [see below in Italian] will also be published in the upcoming issue of the Rivista Teologica di Lugano of the Faculty of Theology, scheduled for January 2026.