‘Porn is a bad habit and you should watch nun of it’

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has warned priests and nuns about the dangers of watching online pornography, calling soft porn a temptation that “weakens the priestly heart”.

In a meeting at the Vatican, the 86-year-old pontiff said even priests and nuns have been tempted by online porn.

The Pope was responding to a wide range of questions from priests and seminarians studying in Rome, from reconciling science and faith to trying to live virtuously amid personal shortcomings.

When asked about how digital and social media should be best used to “share the joy of being Christians”, the Pope cautioned against obsessively watching the news and listening to music that distracts from one’s work before broaching a more serious risk.

“There’s also another thing, which you know well: digital pornography,” he said, according to the transcript of the question and answer session.

“Each of you think if you’ve had the experience or had the temptation of digital pornography. It’s a vice that so many people have, so many laymen, so many lay women, and even priests and nuns,” Francis said.

“And I’m not just talking about criminal pornography like child abuse, where you see live cases of abuse: that’s already degeneracy. But of the more ‘normal’ pornography,” he continued.

The Jesuit pope has condemned pornography before during his pontificate, most recently in June, when he called it “a permanent attack on the dignity of men and women”, saying it should be declared a “threat to public health”.

“Dear brothers, be careful of this. The pure heart, the heart that receives Jesus every day, cannot receive this pornographic information,” he said, telling the audience to “delete it” from phones “so you won’t have temptation in your hand”.

“The devil enters from there: it weakens the priestly heart. Excuse me for going down to these details about pornography, but there is a reality: a reality that touches priests, seminarians, nuns, consecrated souls,” he said.