Sexual pleasure is a “gift from God”, but lust is “a demon”, Pope Francis told attendees of an address at the Vatican on Wednesday.
In a catechesis – a religious instruction – the head of the Catholic Church told an audience that sexuality is “very beautiful”, but only when disciplined.
The pontiff said: “Sexual pleasure that is a gift from God is undermined by pornography: satisfaction without relationship that can generate forms of addiction.
“We have to defend love, the love of the heart, of the mind, of the body, pure love in the giving of oneself to the other. And this is the beauty of sexual intercourse.
Some have taken the Pope’s address as a rebuttal to conservative critics
PA
The Pope’s address comes just days after the resurfacing of sexually explicit writings by the Vatican’s head of doctrine.
The book, authored by Víctor Manuel Fernández, a cardinal and friend of Francis, describes sexual desire, domination, pornography and orgasms in graphic detail.
Fernández, describing female orgasms, said women were “often insatiable” and “may crave more” during a climax.
The Spanish-language book is no longer printed, but its reappearance prompted condemnation and pressure for the cardinal to be sacked from conservative Catholics.
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The Paul VI Audience Hall, where the Pope delivered his catechesis
Dipartimento della Protezione Civile/Creative Commons
Some have taken the Pope’s address as a rebuttal to conservative critics, but Francis himself has locked horns with the Catholic establishment before; in October 2022, he admitted that even nuns and priests watch porn.
Francis has also warmed to reviewing the practice of celibacy amid growing calls for modernisation in the Catholic Church.
In 2020, the Pope’s official Instagram account liked a revealing photo of a Brazilian model dressed in school skirt, stockings and suspenders.
But the pontiff was headstrong last week in his denouncement of lust as a vice and admitted that “winning the battle” against it could be a “lifelong endeavour”.His message of love decried toxic and possessive relationships, and condemned lust as a “mockery” of love and respect.
His catechesis on lust is one of a series on vices and virtues, where the Pope speaks to a general audience from the Vatican’s grand Paul VI Audience Hall.
The address was not only noteworthy for its content, but for the fact that the Pope was suddenly forced to halt a speech five days prior due to illness.
He had suffered from an acute lung infection in November which forced him to cancel a planned appearance at COP28 in Dubai, and left aides reading his speeches for weeks afterwards.