VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis I condemned on Thursday all pornography as “the crudest commercialization of love” during a meeting with students and bishops responsible for Catholic schools.
Francis — the name chosen by 86-year-old celibate Argentine priest Jorge Bergoglio when he became the theocratic ruler of the Holy See and the head of the Catholic Church — spoke during a meeting with participants in the Scholas Occurrentes movement in the Vatican.
The Catholic Review described Scholas Occurrentes as a global education initiative “which connects underdeveloped schools to those with more resources,” which Francis supported since the time he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Francis “fielded questions from students and one elderly person connected by video calls from Colombia, Mexico, Spain and the United States,” Catholic Review reported.
Following up on a statement where he appeared to support some form of sexual education in schools, Francis lamented that young people are learning about sexuality from pornography.
“Pornography is the crudest commercialization of love,” he told the youth. “How often, for lack of sexual education, do they end up with the commercialization of love. Love is not to be commercialized.”
As XBIZ reported, Francis can currently be seen in a propagandistic documentary streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, showing the pope speaking to young people, and features a full segment in which an adult content creator tells the head of the Catholic Church about her positive experience with sex work.
Pope Francis then expresses his opinions about pornography, including his belief that it is addictive like drugs and alcohol, and leaves those who use it “diminished as humans.”
Today’s Scholas Occurrentes meeting included a link-up with a group of students in the United States and video greetings from the bishops of several U.S. cities, including Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington and Timothy M. Dolan of New York, and Archbishops José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and Thomas G. Wenski of Miami.
The meeting took place only a few days after the Illinois Attorney General substantiated child abuse claims against Catholic clergy in the state by more than 1,900 victims.