By Charlie Herbert
‘Young people have that eagerness to meet, and that’s very good’
Pope Francis has labelled sex as ‘one of the beautiful things’ God has created and said using dating apps such as Tinder is completely “normal” as far as he’s concerned.
In a recent Disney+ documentary ‘The Pope: Answers’, the pontiff gave his views and thoughts on a variety of topics such as masturbation, racism, migration, abortion, and the LGBTQ+ community.
The doc was filmed in June 2022 during the pontiff’s “open dialogue” with 10 young adults in Rome, and was released on April 5.
In the film, he said: “Sex is one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person.”
But when it came to porn and masturbation, he said those that view pornographic material debase themselves, comparing porn to drugs, the Independent reports.
“Those who are addicted to pornography are like being addicted to a drug that keeps them at a level that does not let them grow,” he said. “To express oneself sexually is something rich. Anything that diminishes a true sexual expression diminishes you as well, it renders you partial, and it diminishes that richness. Sex has a dynamic of its own. It exists for a reason. It’s an expression of love.”
Pope Francis’ view on Tinder
The group of young adults then asked him what he thought about young people using Tinder and other dating apps to find romance.
He responded: “It’s normal. Young people have that eagerness to meet each other, and that’s very good.”
One of the people in the group speaking to the Pope was Celia, who identified as non-binary. They asked him whether there was a place for nonbinary people and the LGBTQ+ community within the Catholic Church.
To this, the Pope responded that members of the LGBTQ+ community must be welcomed in Catholicism.
“Every person is a child of God, every person,” he said. “God does not reject anyone, God is Father. And I have no right to expel anyone from the Church. Not only that, my duty is always to welcome. The Church cannot close the door to anyone. To no one.”
He went on to describe members of the church who use the Bible to promote hate against gay or transgender people as “infiltrators who take advantage of the Church for their personal passions, for their personal narrowness.”
“It is one of the corruptions of the Church,” he added.
On the subject of abortion, Pope Francis suggested that priests must “be merciful” towards women who have terminated a pregnancy, but maintained his view that the practice is unacceptable.
“It is good to call things by their name,” he said. “It is one thing to accompany the person who had one (abortion), quite another to justify the act.”
During his time as the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has often been hailed for his progressive views on various subjects compared to his predecessors.
In particular, the pontiff has been praised for his attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community. Earlier this year, he criticised laws that criminalise homosexuality as “unjust” and reaffirmed that homosexuality is not a crime.
“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview with The Associated Press in January. “It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin.” The pontiff also called on Catholic bishops to welcome LGBTQ+ people into the church, saying, “These bishops have to have a process of conversion.”
In 2020, he became the first pope to endorse same-sex civil unions, and said that homosexual people are “children of God” and “have the right to be a family.”
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