Sex Is God's Gift, Not Taboo, Pope Francis Says While Criticizing Pornography

Pope Francis told a group of young people that sex is a “great” gift from God, while he criticized pornography as part of an “industry of lies,” in a talk at the Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne in France on Monday.

“Sexuality, sex, is a gift of God. Not taboo,” the pope said.

The Vatican released a transcript of the audience in which the pope answered several questions regarding vocations, helping the poor, evangelization and living one’s faith and sexuality. According to the pope, sexual relations between married couples are “a gift that the Lord gives us. It has two purposes: for loving each other and generating life. It is passion, it is passionate love. True love is passionate.”

He was answering Manon, a 16-year-old, who asked about the ways to navigate in a world that “desecrates” the human body and proposes so many “different opinions.”

“Love between a man and a woman, when it is passionate, it leads you to give your life forever. Forever. And to give it with your body and soul,” the pope said.

The Pope explained that God made both male and female together in his image and likeness. So when they join in marriage they will become “one flesh; this is the grandeur of sexuality. And one must talk about sexuality like this and one must live sexuality like this, in this dimension of love between a man and a woman for life.”

He also talked about how human weakness or spiritual failings can lead to people using their sexuality in a way that differs from “the very beautiful way” it was supposed to function — as love between a man and a woman, a report in Crux said. People end up using their sexuality as “objectified sexuality, detached from love and used for amusement,” the pope said.

The pope also criticized pornography as being part of an “industry of lies,” an industry “of sexuality detached from love.” He said sexuality in the way God intended it to be “is great” and urged the youngsters to “safeguard it well and prepare for that love” which will be a part of their whole lives.

At the meeting, another youngster expressed concerns about how the church was losing its followers and its standing in a world that is becoming more secular by the day.

“Why make an effort in an institution that sometimes seems to me pointless,” the young man asked.

The pope replied that belonging to the church was not the same as belonging to an institution. According to him, belonging to the church means belonging to “a person, to Jesus.”

Teachings of the church prohibit premarital sex, reserves intercourse for husband and wife and also oppose artificial birth control. In the recent months, the church has also come under increasing fire for sexual abuse cases involving members of the clergy and children.