You can be "bride of Christ" without being a virgin.
A new Vatican directive generated indignation among the "brides of Christ", a group of Catholic women who-without being nuns-remain virgins all their lives as a gift to God. After the Church published a document in which she suggested that virginity is not an indispensable requirement for consecration, the United States Association of consecrated Virgin Mary stated that they were shocked and "deeply disappointed".
Consecrated virgins are single women who offer their virginity as a gift to Christ and devote time to penance, community work and prayer. Unlike nuns, they do not live in convents or wear particular clothes. In fact, most of them have a job and keep themselves on their own salary.
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The new Vatican directive on consecrated virginity was published in Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago. In the 39-page publication, the Church gave instructions to become a consecrated woman and, in one of the clauses, indicated that real virginity is not essential to becoming a consecrated virgin.
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"the call to bear witness to the virginal, conjugal and fruitful love of the Church for Christ is not reduced to the symbol of physical integrity. Therefore, having practiced the virtue of chastity in an exemplary manner, although it is of great importance in terms of discernment, is not an essential prerequisite and its lack prevents it from being admitted to consecration, "the article states.
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In a statement, the United States Association of consecrated Virgin Islands stated that they are "deeply disappointed by the denial that integral virginity is the essential and natural foundation of vocation." "it is shocking to hear from Mother Church that physical virginity can no longer be considered an essential prerequisite for consecration to a life of virginity," they maintained.
