Pope Francis. Image: GETTY IMAGES
Sex is “a gift from God,”-Pope Francis.
According to Pope Francis, having sex is “a gift from God” that has to be “disciplined with patience.”
In addition, he issued a warning about pornography, claiming that it may cause addiction and provided “satisfaction without relationship“.
On Wednesday, the Pope gave a speech to his general audience at the Vatican.
The Pope referred to the speech as “the demon of lust” and it was one of the sermons he gave on virtues and vices.
The pope declared, “Daily news is enough to document this reality” and added that lust “devastates relationships between people”.
“How many relationships that started out in the best way have later become toxic relationships?” asked the man.
The Pope’s remarks came a few days after Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, his new chief of doctrine, faced criticism for a book titled Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality, which he had written and published in the late 1990s.
The book, which is no longer in print, explored human sexuality and included thorough accounts of both male and female orgasm experiences.
Cardinal Fernández stated that he “certainly would not” publish the book now because he wrote it when he was younger in an interview with the Catholic online journal Crux.
The book has drawn criticism from conservative pundits who labelled it “perverse” and claimed Cardinal Fernández was “unfit” to serve as head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
It is not the first time that conservative Catholics have taken offence at Pope Francis or Cardinal Fernández.
A document that was ultimately authorised by Pope Francis and presented by Cardinal Fernández in December outlined rules permitting priests to bless same-sex couples’ relationships even if they were still seen as sinful.
For many conservatives, the harm had already been done, despite Cardinal Fernández’s insistence that the position did not validate same-sex couples’ status in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
Under Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Gerhard Müller led the Church’s doctrine division and sharply criticised the Vatican’s declaration.
Cardinal Müller stated that a priest baptising a homosexual couple would be doing a “sacrilegious and blasphemous act” in a lengthy reply that was uploaded online.
“According to the criterion of this type of blessings, one could even bless an abortion clinic or a mafia group,” Cardinal Müller stated.
Clergy from all across the world, notably American conservatives who have long opposed the Pope’s ambitions to reform the Catholic Church, also issued comments denouncing the decision.