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Abigail Loraine Hensel and Brittany Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990) are American conjoined twins. They key thing here is that they (are female and) have '1 set of reproductive organs' unlike

  1. females with 2 vaginas like Hannah Kersey or Hazel Jones

  2. conjoined twins with separate sets of reproductive organs like Lucio and Simplicio Godina and Carl and Clarence Aguirre.

    • BTW, both twins are conjoined twins from the Philippines, the only Catholic country in Asia besides East Timor. Even though they're a different case from Abby and Brittany, I don't think you can say Catholicism hasn't encountered at least a similar case.

Question: So what does Catholicism say about marriage for conjoined twins like them who share reproductive organs: Can they indeed get married (to separate males)?

  • In particular, are they indeed allowed to have sex with their respective spouses even if obtaining carnal knowledge of 1 twin is equivalent to obtaining carnal knowledge of the other? Like... If Abby marries Carl and Brittany marries Daniel, then can Carl / Daniel have sex with Abby / Brittany even if it means Carl / Daniel would be obtaining carnal knowledge of Brittany / Abby?

  • Consider the following scenarios that may arise (as guide sub-questions, not necessarily the main points) :

  1. If Carl and Abby are allowed to have sex and they do have sex, then after they are done, can Brittany and Daniel begin right afterwards? Can all 4 do it at the same time like alternately? Or does it have to be 1 pair after the other?

  2. If Brittany isn't seeing anyone, then is it wrong for Brittany to ask Abby to have sex with Carl on a day Abby and Carl weren't particularly intending to have sex (but then Abby and Carl of course consent anyway) because Brittany wants sexual pleasure kinda like how Jews would ask non-Jews to operate electrical switches?

Aha! I found out that Judaism SE actually has a post for this. What is the halachic status of adult conjoined twins? Your move, Christianity SE! XD

BCLC
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    I lean towards closing this question on a philosophical basis since the Catholic Church would not condone such sex that shared the same sexual organs (vagina) in conjoined twins. Common sense tells us that it would not be morally permitted. The sharing of the same vagina by two different males would never be permitted; it is that simple. Medical professionals may or may not be able to inform us as to which twin controls the reproductive organs. Until this is verified, I do not see a positive outcome for any marriage at all being permitted. Finding info on such cases is impossible to find. – Ken Graham Nov 14 '22 at 00:35
  • @KenGraham ' since the Catholic Church would not condone such sex that shared the same sexual organs' That's the thing. Why is it only a guess? It's not like conjoined twins existed only in 1990. How come the Catholic Church doesn't release any statement even though conjoined twins have existed even way before? But anyhoo, so conjoined female twins with single sets are forbidden then from having sex and being married while conjoined female twins with double sets are not forbidden - is that indeed your conjecture? same with conjoined male twins? – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 07:56
  • @KenGraham Update: Aha! I found out that Judaism SE actually has a post for this. What is the halachic status of adult conjoined twins? Your move, Christianity SE! XD See it's weird right? How come Judaism has an opinion on this while Catholicism doesn't have an opinion on this? So what Catholicism didn't know conjoined twins exist? LOL – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 08:10
  • @KenGraham 'Medical professionals may or may not be able to inform us as to which twin controls the reproductive organs' - ah that's interesting...so if only 1 twin controls then maybe only that twin is allowed to be married and have sex? What about sexless marriages? What if somehow they both can control? – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 08:12
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    This exactly why it belongs to a philosophical understanding of theology. This deals with unknowns. Doubtful that you will find an official response unless Rome has in fact dealt with an actual case. Until then it in also unknown territory. – Ken Graham Nov 14 '22 at 11:02
  • @KenGraham Ok I didn't actually understand. What do you mean by 'philosophical basis' and 'philosophical understanding of theology' ? Also myb devil's proof thing, but can you show there's no such mention of conjoined twins in entire canon law? eg any theologian or priest who says in some article or blog 'unfortunately, no word from Vatican' ? I mean, conjoined twins have been around before 1900 and some even civilly married. Even in the PHILIPPINES : Conjoined Lucio and Simplicio Godina married identical twins Natividad and Victorina Matos – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 12:51
  • It means Vatican appointed theologians have to argue the point of theology on a philosophical level. After all Rome would have to make the case and explain their reasons behind it. – Ken Graham Nov 14 '22 at 13:14
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    So this is the kind of question that downvotes on questions were invented for! I sincerely hope you get an answer, but the odds are pretty slim. Unlike Judaism, Catholicism hasn't been around long enough to delve into the realm of the speculative. If you want to ask a question about the meaning of the word "use" with respect to sex go for it. It may be less fun, but I think asking questions about what should be the principles going into an answer to this question is more fruitful than asking about the nuances of realities that may never exist. – Peter Turner Nov 14 '22 at 13:56
  • @KenGraham is this like the henry viii case or something - like they don't have a ruling for it and won't make a decision until some conjoined twins actually come knocking on the door of a local parish priest 1 day? in the henry viii case, they they did have a ruling though...but i can't think of an example. but there are like things where the catholic church doesn't know its own opinion until the situation actually happens or something? i mean...but i can't believe it. oh wait... – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 16:02
  • @KenGraham wait... like i said there were conjoined twins Lucio and Simplicio Godina who got married in the philippines, the only catholic country in asia besides east timor. sooo well i'm guessing they were catholic...sooo they must've gone to some priest about it... oh wait never mind lol they didn't share. even Carl and Clarence Aguirre. fine moving on. just go back to previous comment – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 16:05
  • @PeterTurner 1 - 'So this is the kind of question that downvotes on questions were invented for! I sincerely hope you get an answer' --> LOLwut? oh like it's up to community to upvote OR downvote and not up to the moderators to close you mean? 2 - 'If you want to ask a question about the meaning of the word "use" with respect to sex go for it.' --> when did say 'use' ? 3 - 'It may be less fun, but I think asking questions about what should be the principles going into an answer to this question' --> suggest please. – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 16:06
  • Yeah, IMO it's a real bad question, I'm just giving you my justification as a user for -1'ing it. I think you should ask a boring question about principles Whenever a question arises about sex from a Catholic perspective, it comes down to the meaning of the word 'use', St. John Paul II proved that in Love and Responsibility. So I don't know what you want to find out about Catholicism in this question. – Peter Turner Nov 14 '22 at 16:24
  • @PeterTurner i just wanna know what catholicism says about this. what's the problem? 'So I don't know what you want to find out about Catholicism in this question.' – BCLC Nov 14 '22 at 17:14
  • @PeterTurner wait i totally forgot about these 1 - 'Unlike Judaism, Catholicism hasn't been around long enough to delve into the realm of the speculative' --> LOL. Ok so obviously Catholicism's inclusive not exclusive roots are exactly the same as judaism's and not only is christianity far more popular than judaism but also is catholicism 1/7 of the world's religion all of which you already knew so what's the point: you just trolling? XD 2 -'ask a boring question about principles'eg? – BCLC Nov 16 '22 at 07:05
  • @bclc Nearly all my knowledge of Judaism comes from Fiddler on the Roof. But what I was thinking is, a Catholic priest might bless your sewing machine with a generic "blessing of implements" but a Rabbi could bless a sewing machine with something more specific. In the same vein, the Catholic Church can answer, "what is the meaning and purpose of marriage?", where Judaism can answer "how should one be intimate with conjoined twins?". – Peter Turner Nov 16 '22 at 13:47
  • @PeterTurner man/girl, the point is if real conjoined twins with shared organs go to a priest then what will the priest say? if there's no word on this, then frustrating as it is please post as answer eg any theologian or priest who says in some article or blog 'unfortunately, no word from Vatican' ? – BCLC Nov 16 '22 at 13:51

1 Answers1

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I posit that Catholicism says nothing about marriage for conjoined twins who share reproductive organs.

It would be for the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) to rule on whether such a marriage was lawful. They have never had to consider the subject up to now.

The reason for the absence of consideration may be that ischiopagi and similarly conjoined twins rarely both survive.

Andrew Leach
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    thanks Andrew Leach what is CDW please? – BCLC Nov 18 '22 at 02:52
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    CDW is the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The "C" stands for Congregation, which was the word used instead of Dicastery prior to Pope Francis' changing the name earlier this year. CDW is the standard abbreviation. – Andrew Leach Nov 18 '22 at 07:39
  • @BCLC Computer Discount Warehouse! – Peter Turner Nov 21 '22 at 02:26
  • What do you mean Catholicism says nothing? The twins are 2 persons and only monogamy is allowed. The conjoined twins can't perform a valid marriage. Matthew 19:12 – Grasper Nov 21 '22 at 16:58
  • @Grasper You make a categorical assertion. Has that also been asserted by the Church? If it has, then please do feel free to write an answer of your own. – Andrew Leach Nov 22 '22 at 07:49
  • The sacramental marriage is between one man and one woman and not their sexual organs. – Grasper Nov 29 '22 at 14:11
  • @Grasper Your answer is a priori not a posteriori. – BCLC Nov 29 '22 at 18:31
  • @BCLC, the church doesn't need to talk about all specific cases. You can deduct the teachings on these different scenarios from their root doctrines. The conjoined twins existed from the beginning. This is not a modern phenomena. – Grasper Dec 01 '22 at 21:13
  • @Grasper you mean deduce right? – BCLC Dec 12 '22 at 00:48