Sex is ‘divine’: How Pope Francis is recasting Catholic Church’s views on intimacy

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnVATICAN CITY (RNS) — A recently resurfaced book by the Vatican’s doctrine czar, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, caused a stir in the Catholic world when it described orgasms as a “sublime act of worship of God.” But the book, titled “Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality” and written in the 1990s, is hardly the first time a Catholic leader — or even a pope — has spoken candidly about sex.For Pope Pius XII, there was nothing wrong in married couples seeking pleasure during sex, and Pope John Paul II described marital intercourse as the representation of God as love in his 1960 book “Love and Responsibility.” And it was under his pontificate that Fernández, now the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote those now infamous lines elevating the orgasm to a kind of divine adoration.
In his decade as pope, Francis has tried to usher in a more positive, frank approach to the topic of sex in the Catholic Church, urging the institution to reckon with the real-life experiences of faithful today and addressing topics ranging from pornography, abstinence and dating apps to orgasms.
Starting with his 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” or the “Joy of Love,” Francis underlined the importanc …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]