Vatican City: Pope Francis has warned seminarians in Rome about the dangers of online pornography, describing soft porn as a temptation that “weakens the priestly heart.”
According to a transcript published by the Vatican, the 86-year-old pontiff responded at length to a wide range of questions from priests and seminarians studying in Rome, AFP reported.
Asked how digital and social media should be best used to share the “joy of being Christians,” the Pope cautioned against obsessively watching the news and listening to music, before dwelling on a more serious matter.
“And on this (subject) there’s also another thing, which you know well: digital pornography. Each of you think if you’ve had the experience or had the temptation of digital pornography. It’s a vice that so many people have, so many laymen, so many lay women, and even priests and nuns,” Pope Francis said, according to the transcript of the question-answer session.
“And I’m not just talking about criminal pornography like child abuse, where you see live cases of abuse: that’s already degeneracy. But of the more ‘normal’ pornography,” he continued.
Condemning pornography as a “permanent attack on the dignity of men and women,” he said it should be declared a “threat to public health”.
“Dear brothers, be careful of this. The pure heart, the heart that receives Jesus every day, cannot receive this pornographic information.. Delete it from your phones, so you won’t have temptation in your hand,” Pope said.
“The devil enters from there: it weakens the priestly heart. Excuse me for going down to these details about pornography, but there is a reality: a reality that touches priests, seminarians, nuns, consecrated souls,” he said.
“Do you understand? All right. This is important,” he said, before taking the next question on a different topic.
