"God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them"; 115 He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply"; 116 "When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created." 117
Catechism number 2335
Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. the union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."120 All human generations proceed from this union.121