Editing Consummation (section)

===Religious marriage===
{{further|Marriage#Religion}}
According to traditional [[Christian theology|Christian theological interpretations]], "It is intended by God for the husband to be the one to break his wife's [[hymen]]", which when perforated during intercourse creates a [[Covenant (religion)#Christianity|blood covenant]] that seals the bond of [[Christian views on marriage|holy matrimony]] between husband and wife.<ref name="Gentry2021">{{cite book |last1=Gentry |first1=Harold |title=Intimacy |date=21 January 2021 |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|WestBow Press]] |isbn=978-1-6642-1232-9 |language=en}}</ref> Consummation is particularly relevant in a [[Marriage in  the Catholic Church|Catholic marriage]]. Within the [[Catholicism|Catholic Church]], if a matrimonial celebration takes place (ratification) but the spouses have not yet engaged in intercourse (consummation), then the marriage is said to be a marriage ''[[ratum sed non consummatum]]''. Such a marriage, regardless of the reason for non-consummation, can be dissolved by the [[pope]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6R.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law - IntraText|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105060902/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P6R.HTM|archive-date=2007-01-05}}</ref> Additionally, an inability or an intentional refusal to consummate the marriage is probable grounds for an [[Declaration of nullity|annulment]]. [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Catholic canon law]] defines a marriage as consummated when the "spouses have performed between themselves in a human fashion a conjugal act which is suitable in itself for the procreation of offspring, to which marriage is ordered by its nature and by which the spouses become one flesh".<ref>canon 1061 §1</ref> Thus some theologians, such as [[John Hardon|Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.]], state that intercourse with [[contraception]] does not consummate a marriage.<ref name="pcd"/>