A Milestone in the Reception of Dietrich and Alice von Hildebrand’s Work on Marriage
On November 25, 2025, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) released Una caro, a major document reaffirming the Church’s perennial teaching on monogamy, with particular attention to the essential role of unity in the love between a man and a woman in marriage. Approved by Pope Leo XIV, this substantial work draws upon the full breadth of the Church’s theological tradition—from Scripture and the Fathers through the medieval Doctors to contemporary thought. Among the modern voices engaged in its pages, the names of Dietrich von Hildebrand and Alice von Hildebrand appear with notable prominence.
A Prominent Recognition
The document cites Dietrich von Hildebrand’s work multiple times, placing his philosophical insights on the nature of conjugal union alongside such luminaries as Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and Augustine. His statement that marriage “is the deepest and most intimate union between human beings” appears in the document’s foundational discussion of what marriage essentially is (¶6). The document further explores his personalist categories of the “I-thou” and “we” dimensions of marital union (¶45), his notion of discretio (a space of personal intimacy that preserves freedom), and his concept of “reverence” for the other person as sacred and inviolable (¶46).
Una caro also gives sustained attention to Alice von Hildebrand’s contributions (¶47–48). Drawing from her work Man and Woman: A Divine Invention, the document presents her understanding of the union between man and woman as the crowning of God’s creative work—what she called the “divine invention.” Her insights on the centrality of the heart, the role of tenderness in marriage, and the sacrificial dimension of spousal love receive careful exposition.
A Cloud of Witnesses
The significance of this recognition lies not merely in the fact of citation but in the context. Una caro engages the tradition comprehensively. It quotes the Summa Theologiae on the nature of marital union. It draws from Bonaventure’s Breviloquium on marriage as remedy and sacrament. It invokes John Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, and Clement of Alexandria. It engages modern theologians and philosophers, including Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karol Wojtyła. For the Hildebrands to be woven into this fabric—not as footnotes but as substantive contributors to the Church’s developing understanding of marriage—represents a recognition long deserved.
A Legacy Confirmed, Not Created
Those familiar with the Hildebrands’ work will find nothing surprising in this recognition. Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Marriage (1929) anticipated many of the personalist insights that would later inform the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on marriage in Gaudium et spes. His Encyclical Humanae Vitae: A Sign of Contradiction (1968) offered a philosophical defense of the Church’s teaching on marriage and conjugal love at a moment when such voices were sorely needed. The importance of his work has been explicitly recognized by both St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
Alice von Hildebrand, for her part, continued and deepened this work across decades of teaching and writing. Her philosophical sophistication and her ability to communicate profound truths with clarity made her an invaluable voice in the Church’s conversation about the meaning of human love. Pope Benedict XVI once described her as “a noble lady,” and in 2013 Pope Francis named her a Dame Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory —a high papal order of chivalry—in recognition of her significant contributions as a Catholic philosopher, author, and teacher. The Hildebrands’ inclusion in Una caro thus continues a long history of appreciation for their work at the highest levels of the Church.
An Occasion for Gratitude, Clarity, and Hope
Una caro offers the Church and the world a rich and comprehensive meditation on the Church’s perennial teaching on the essential character of unity in marriage at a time when such reflection is urgently needed. That it does so by drawing upon the Hildebrands’ work is a confirmation of what many have long known: their contributions to the theology and philosophy of marriage belong among the most important of the modern era and are sure to be regarded as essential voices in the chorus of Catholic teaching on love and marriage.
We invite readers to explore both Una caro itself and the Hildebrands’ writings that informed it. In the words of the document, drawing on Dietrich von Hildebrand’s categories, the conjugal union “thrives on both experiences”—the intimate “I-thou” encounter and the shared journey of “we” (¶45). May this teaching continue to illuminate the path for all who seek to understand the beauty and grandeur of spousal love.
Scholarly Commentary on the Hildebrands’ Prominence in the Document
Rocco Buttiglione (Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences)
Sex is like dynamite. Used correctly, it opens the way to a gold mine. Used incorrectly, it can maim or kill you. Today, young people find themselves with this explosive in their hands without anyone giving them instructions for use. The instructions for use are contained in the moral conscience. Now the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has published the document Una caro, which aims to help people handle sex in order to build true love, that love in which two become one, for which it is worth living and one is not afraid to die.
In doing so, the DDF has very appropriately drawn inspiration from the teaching but also from the life testimony of Dietrich von Hildebrand and Alice Jourdain. They propose a philosophy that arises from life and illuminates the path of life.
Maria Fedoryka (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ave Maria University)
Many young men and women over decades have owed their understanding of the beauty and grandeur of spousal love to the work of Dietrich von Hildebrand and his wife Alice, a work which has now been accorded the recognition it so well deserves. The Hildebrands’ profound contributions have deepened the Church’s understanding of the intrinsic value of conjugal love as the inner soul of and “real, valid motive for marriage.” Their rich insights into spousal love have illuminated the incomparable nature of the union of persons proper to marriage, which forms the basis for its exclusivity and permanence and its role as source of new human life. May this document be the occasion for many more to discover the Hildebrands’ work on love and marriage.
William Doino (Catholic Historian and Author)
Those of us inspired by the renowned Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand, as well as his wife, Alice—an extraordinary scholar in her own right—were delighted but not surprised to see them both quoted in Una caro. Dietrich and Alice wrote beautifully and unforgettably about God’s divine plan for marriage, and, just as impressively, lived that plan out magnificently during their own marriage. To have either one named in a Vatican document would be a blessing; to see them both cited numerous times is a validation of their prophetic work and a cause for celebration.
Elisa Grimi (Director, Hildebrand Chair for Christian Personalism, Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University):
The Hildebrands always had the Catholic Church at heart, as evidenced by their steadfast witness to the Truth of the Gospel. Their contribution thus had a profound impact on Catholic thought and culture. Their inclusion in this document is a welcome sign of the growing reception of their legacy in the Church, representing an important new milestone, and we hope that this will make their profound work known to an ever-wider audience.
Beth A. Rath (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Borromeo Seminary)
When the Church speaks, seminarians listen. Una caro notably spotlights the theologically rich work of both Dietrich and Alice von Hildebrand on marriage, spousal love, and reverence. May this formal recognition from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith be an invitation for seminarians and the lay faithful to dive more deeply into the illuminating texts of the Hildebrands.
Institutional affiliations are provided for identification purposes only.
The full text of Una caro is available at: vatican.va