Pope Francis, while answering questions from a group of enthusiastic teens and young adults said, sex is“one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person." He went on to say that "to express yourself sexually is a richness. So anything that detracts from real sexual expression lessens you and depletes this richness," referring to masturbation.
The pontiff was in a Disney production called 'The Pope Answers', where a variety of topics were discussed including sex, abortion and LGBT rights; pornography and sex abuse within the Catholic Church. On pornography, he said, "Being addicted to pornography is like being addicted to a drug that keeps a person at a level that does not allow them to grow."
The Pope also said that the LGBT community must be welcomed by the Catholic Church. “All persons are the children of God, all persons. God does not reject anybody, God is a father. And I have no right to expel anyone from the Church,” he said, Reuters reported.
On abortion, he said the practice remains unacceptable. But priests should be “merciful” towards women who have undergone an abortion. The pope’s remarks were published by the official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.
