Continuing his streak of saying unusually cool stuff, the Pope Francis has decided to let the world know that he believes sexual pleasure is a “gift from God,” although he was quick to follow that up with the recommendation that it be “disciplined with patience.”


In the same Vatican address, part of a series of sermons on vices and virtues, Pope Francis warned against pornography, which he said leads to “satisfaction without relationship” and could also result in addiction. Maybe he’s been listening to the men who advocate for jacking off from memory instead.



The address comes after one of the Pope’s top cardinals and head of doctrine, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, was criticized for a book he published in the late 1990s called Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality. In the book, he discusses human sexuality and provides detailed descriptions of orgasms. The Cardinal told Catholic publication Crux that he was young when he wrote the book and “certainly would not” write it today, but that hasn’t stopped commentators from labeling the book as “perverse” and calling Cardinal Fernández “unfit” to be prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (no, I don’t know what that means either).


Despite being pro-sexual pleasure, the Pope criticized lust, which makes sense since it’s a deadly sin and he’s the Pope, arguing that it “devastates relationships between people” and leads to toxic relationships.



The Pope has faced a mountain of criticism in recent months for various sins like approving guidelines that detail how priests can bless same-sex couples and sharing his own personal hope that hell is empty, although he was quick to clarify that the latter was not dogma, just his own thoughts.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Frank. Sorry so many of your cardinals are so lame.