Pope Francis says ‘sexual pleasure is a gift from God’ but condemns porn
Pope Francis said “sexual pleasure is a gift from God,” but warns Catholics not to engage in pornography.
The 87-year-old religious leader told crowds outside the Vatican Wednesday sex was something to be cherished, but it is ultimately being “undermined by pornography.”
🅺“We must defend love,” he said, “Winning against the battle of lust can be a lifelong undertakinꦰg.”
The Argentinia-born religious leader said “satisfaction without a relationship can generate forms of addiction” and that lust leads to a “dangerous vice.”
Continuing his screed, the pure-of-mind-and-body pontiff added: “Lust plunders, it robs, it consumes in haste, it does not want to listen to the other but only to its own need and pleasure; lust judges every courtship a bore, it does not seek that synthesis between reason, drive and feeling that💝 would help us to conduct existence wisely,” the pope said, .
He also said lust often leads to one partner trying to “possess” the other and can be objectifying, the British outlet reported.
This is not the first time Pope Francis has discussed porn. In Oct. 2022, he admitted he knew priests and nuns also watched porn but warned them and lay members the “devil enters from there.”
“If you can cancel it from your phone, then cancel it, then you won’t have temptation in your hand,” he said at the time.
His most recent remarks come after it emerged last week Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez – the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith – had written a book in 1998 that described male and female orgasm in details.
Critics branded the out-of-print book “scandalous” and conservative Catholics began to call for his dismissal, according to the Telegraph.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church also spoke on Sunday to defend the church’s recent landmark decision to approve blessings for same sex couples.
Addressing backlash, including some priests saying they would not implement the rules, the pope said: “Sometimes decisions are not accepted, but in most cases when decisions are not accepted, it is because they are not understood.”