VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis I cautioned Catholic clergy on Monday against the “temptation of digital pornography” and ordered them to delete such material from their cell phones.
According to a Catholic News Agency report, the 85-year-old Argentine pontiff spoke to hundreds of seminarians gathered in Paul VI Hall to receive his guidance, instructing the aspiring priests that digital pornography “weakens the soul” and that “the pure heart, the heart that receives Jesus every day, cannot receive this pornographic information.”
“And if from your cell phone you can delete this, delete it, so you won’t have temptation at hand,” he admonished the young men. “And if you can’t delete it, protect yourself properly so you don’t have access to this.”
The pope then expressed his concern that “digital pornography” is “a vice that so many people have — so many lay men, so many lay women, and even priests and religious sisters.”
He clarified that he was not just talking about “criminal pornography, like child abuse,” but legal, “normal” pornography, though he did not define that term or elaborate on how many priests and nuns he believes are viewing such material.
Pope: Satan 'Enters' Priests and Nuns Through Porn
Francis warned the young aspiring priests that digital pornography “weakens the priestly heart” and that “the devil enters from there.” The pope, whose word holds maximum authority for Catholics around the world, has repeatedly stated that Satan is not a metaphor or a concept but an actual being.
According to the Catholic News Agency, official church doctrine condemns pornography as “a grave offense” that “immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world,” injures the dignity of participants and “perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other.”
The Catholic News Agency report concludes by listing ministries “founded to help people struggling with addiction to pornography.” The list includes Covenant Eyes, on which XBIZ has reported. Last month, Wired exposed how “accountability software” from Covenant Eyes and Accountable2You spied on churchgoers' searches and then sent the information to religious leaders. After Wired presented its findings to Google, the search giant determined that Covenant Eyes and Accountable2You violated its privacy policies.