Pope Francis delivered a blunt warning this week, not just to congregants but also to priests and nuns, telling them to quit with the porn already.
“The devil enters from there,” he said, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
The 85-year-old pontiff called porn a vice shared by “many laymen, many laywomen” in addition to the clergy.
“And I’m not just talking about criminal pornography like that involving the abuse of children. That is already degeneration,” Francis said. “But pornography that is a little ‘normal.’ Dear brothers, be careful about this.”
Francis said porn “weakens the priestly heart,” and that “the pure heart, the one that Jesus receives every day, cannot receive this pornographic information,” The BBC reported.
He also offered some advice on how to avoid it:
“Delete this from your phone so you will not have temptation in hand.”
In 2015, a report by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops called producing or using porn a “grave matter” and “a mortal sin if it is committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”