This article is from the Huffington Post and thus may not report the facts of the conversation completely accurately.
But Catholics have always allowed for pleasures in moderation, such as eating, drinking, smoking and enjoying sex within marriage. Puritanical approaches with some Catholics tried to denied these truths.
I love that the pope refers to Babette's Feast. It is a great movie with a French Catholic woman helping puritans of her day enjoy life and food. I recommend it highly.
Pope Francis Says Having Sex And Eating Good Food Is 'Simply Divine'
Pope Francis wants you to eat well and enjoy sex (sex within a valid marriage).
The pope spoke on cuisine and intercourse during a series of interviews with Carlo Petrini, an Italian culinary writer and activist behind the “slow food” movement, which positions itself as the opposite of fast food and advocates a slower, more meaningful pace of life.
“Pleasure arrives directly from God,” Francis told Petrini. “It is neither Catholic, nor Christian, nor anything else. It is simply divine.”
Francis critiqued the “overzealous morality” of a Roman Catholic Church that denounced pleasure in the past, calling it a “wrong interpretation of the Christian message.”
“The church has condemned inhuman, brutish, vulgar pleasure, but has on the other hand always accepted human, simple, moral pleasure,” Francis said. “The pleasure of eating is there to keep you healthy by eating, just like sexual pleasure is there to make love more beautiful and guarantee the perpetuation of the species. ... The pleasure of eating and sexual pleasure [comes] from God.”
Francis pointed to the 1987 film “Babette’s Feast,” saying it represented his ideas on pleasure. The pope has lauded the film in the past, particularly praising the actions of its protagonist, a chef who prepares an elaborate feast for members of a Protestant village.
“The most intense joys in life arise when we are able to elicit joy in others, as a foretaste of heaven,” Francis wrote in “Amoris Laetitia,” his 2016 apostolic exhortation. “We can think of the lovely scene in the film ‘Babette’s Feast,’ when the generous cook receives a grateful hug and praise: ‘Ah, how you will delight the angels!’ It is a joy and a great consolation to bring delight to others, to see them enjoying themselves. This joy, the fruit of fraternal love, is not that of the vain and self-centered, but of lovers who delight in the good of those whom they love, who give freely to them and thus bear good fruit.”
Francis’ conversations with Petrini were published in the Italian book “Terra Futura: Conversations With Pope Francis on Integral Ecology,” which was released on Wednesday and focuses on the pope’s views on culture, community and environmentalism.
Francis was “simply repeating the perennial Christian message on virtue and vice,” Catholic commentator Peter Williams told Newsweek in reference to the pope’s remarks on sex and food.
“By avoiding the twin evil extremes of repressive puritanism on the one hand and immoral libertinism on the other, both of which prevent or destroy happy enjoyment of good things like food or sex, the church rightly espouses the ‘golden mean,’” Williams told Newsweek.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
35 comments:
What's the Pope's experience of sex? We'd love to know. The late Auberon Waugh said that what would be guaranteed to take all pleasure from the marital act would be the knowledge that Fr O'Bubblegum was lurking in the background nodding in approval.
All the same, Hilaire Belloc's encomium of 'Catholic men who live upon wine' strikes a chord. He also wrote:
The world is full of double beds
And most delightful maidenheads;
Which being so, there's no excuse
For sodomy or self-abuse.
Billions of Catholics are being denied the sacraments because of a pandemic, to which our pope ascribes "nature throwing a fit" over our sins against the environment.
Thousands of misguided people--young, misinformed college brats, black people unleashing their hatred for white people, Soros-funded troublemakers and nihilistic drifters in search of a good brawl are tearing our cities down, destroying businesses and, ultimately, creating more racism.
The world's economies are teetering.
And our pope sees fit to lecture us on food and sex. Boy, isn't THAT going to give our Church some positive publicity!
The late Fr. Gabriel Amorth said that he spoke with Padre Pio, who allegedly knew the Third Secret of Fatiam: "“One day Padre Pio said to me very sorrowfully: ‘You know, Gabriele? It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time will come to rule a false Church.’”
Only the blind could deny it.
Thanks, I liked this article. Some regions are under the thumb of both Puritanism and an Anglican moral-legalistic view of life. It is good to hear a pope applaud enjoyment and pleasure. It has always seemed to me that all of the feasts of the Church are never really celebrated and enjoyed in America, probably because of our protestant puritanical roots. Hopefully “TerraFutura” will be released in English.
Tom Marcus said..."It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time will come to rule a false Church.’”
222
One need simply to remain in Communion with the Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis, to ensure protection from the false Church in question.
Jesus Christ has assured us that he who hears Pope Francis hears Jesus Christ Himself.
Jesus Christ has promised that Pope Francis teaches the True Faith.
As long as we remain with His Holiness, Pope Francis, then we will be far removed from Satan, and his "false Church".
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Irish Catholicism was very puritanical regarding sex (almost until the present generation). I remember visiting Dublin in 1980 and finding the Catholic press obsessed with it to an unhealthy degree.
The oft-heard injunction to treat all girls as if they were the Virgin Mary, however well-meant, would have produced guffaws in the rest of Catholic Europe.
Earlier, the tradition in Ireland of young girls being married off to considerably older men produced a lot of sexually frustrated young men who turned to drink, the priesthood, or England. Not to mention sexually frustrated married women.
Romulus Augustus here, well that’s just weird.
Which begs the question...what exactly does it mean to "remain" with Pope Franics? If it means recognizing him as the Supreme Pontiff and elected pope, I assent.
If it means uncritically accepting what he teaches, even when it contradicts the unbroken Magisterium of the Church, I dissent.
If it means praying for him and wanting the best for him, I assent.
If it means engaging in blind papolatry, I dissent.
The enemy is a liar. He can use any institution and come as an angel of light to deceive us, even from the highest levels of the Church. Am I saying that Pope Francis is demonic? Of course not. Am I suggesting he could be used by the enemy--yes.
2 Thessaonians 2:5 says, "So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter."
Galatians 1: 8 warnes us, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!"
These are dark times, which is all the more reason to proceed cautiously and with our eyes open and alert.
'Jesus Christ has assured us that he who hears Pope Francis hears Jesus Christ Himself.'
Unfortunately, some popes came close to believing this absurdity themselves. But I don't think Francis is one of them, and Benedict certainly wasn't.
John Nolan,
Unfortunately a young man posting here believes that
Jesus raised the possibility of not finding beleivers on earth at His second coming in union with the Pope or not.
God's plan made a hopeful beginning,
But, man spoiled his chances by sinning.
We trust that the story
Will end in God's Glory,
But, at present, the other side's winning.
Tom Marcus said..."It is Satan who has been introduced into the bosom of the Church and within a very short time will come to rule a false Church.’”
Actually, Tom Marcus attributed that quote to Padre Pio...not himself.
Tom Marcus DID say:
If it means uncritically accepting what he teaches, even when it contradicts the unbroken Magisterium of the Church, I dissent.
If it means engaging in blind papolatry, I dissent.
Good for Tom Marcus for being a critical thinker capable of discernment, even when it comes to the Pope.
UNLIKE some other bootlicking papal worshiper who's posts make most of us want to puke.
Romulus Augustus here, Let the Pope worry about sex and good food, why don't we pay attention to our cities that are burning every night,over the weekend in Compton Ca. two Sheriff's Deputies shot in the jaw and and head while sitting in their car, then rioters blocking the Hospital entrance and exit yelling WE HOPE THE F.....ers DIE, Chicago 52 shot and 15 murdered, Baltimore 45 shot 11 murdered, New York 35 shootings 3 murdered, BLM is a Communist Terrorist Organization bent on overthrowing the United States as we hide behind our masks and do noting to stop this sickness. Enough of the chants of "white privilege" what does that even mean??? Most Black Americans are ashamed of what is happening in their name and now 35% are voting Trump as well as a whopping 50% of Latino's for Trump. Black Police chiefs in Seattle, Dallas, Rochester, Atlanta ALL stepped down because they were not given the support they needed from the Mayors of those cities ALL DEMOCRAT MAYORS!! I watched the rallies in Nevada this weekend for Trump "25,000" people in 100 degree desert heat standing for hours, in the crowd I saw Black, Latino, Asians and White faces it will be a LANDSLIDE in November for Trump, just today Archbishop Vigano said God will intercede for Trump to win!!!
Anonymous at !2:29 PM said..."Jesus raised the possibility of not finding beleivers on earth at His second coming in union with the Pope or not."
Huh? Let me get this straight:
I can be in communion with Pope Francis. Via communion with Pope Francis, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, I am in communion with Jesus Christ.
However, based upon your comment, I can, at the same time, not be with, and in, Jesus Christ?
Anonymous, if you are correct, then there isn't any point to be in communion with the Vicar of Christ as that doesn't assure us of holding the True Faith, via our union with Jesus Christ.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
John Nolan said..."Unfortunately, some popes came close to believing this absurdity themselves. But I don't think Francis is one of them, and Benedict certainly wasn't."
Mister Nolan, please cite the declarations from the above Popes, in which they rejected Jesus Christ's teaching in question — "He that heareth you, heareth me;"
Thank you.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
John Nolan said..."Unfortunately, some popes came close to believing this absurdity themselves. But I don't think Francis is one of them, and Benedict certainly wasn't."
Let us pretend that you are correct. If you are correct, then the Pope's voice is that of his own... he's just another man.
Fortunately, Mister Nolan, you are wrong.
We have Jesus Christ's solemn word that He speaks through His Pope, as well as bishops in communion with His Pope.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: #87: "Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me", the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms."
Lumen Gentium, #20: "Therefore, the Sacred Council teaches that bishops by divine institution have succeeded to the place of the apostles, as shepherds of the Church, and he who hears them, hears Christ, and he who rejects them, rejects Christ and Him who sent Christ."
I give thanks unto Jesus Christ for His having promised that He speaks via Pope Francis.
As Catholics, we are blessed and comforted by Jesus Christ's holy Papacy.
As the True Church teaches, our communion with Pope Francis ensures that we will enjoy sure access to, and remain with, and in, Jesus Christ.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
"The Catholic Religion has been preserved ever-immaculate in the Apostolic See."
— From Vatican I. Taken from the 529 A.D. Creed of Pope Saint Hormisdas.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: #87: "Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me", the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms."
Uh....Mark Thomas......if you were asked to drink the Kool Aid would you drink it?
Mark Thomas give it a rest - no one is interested in your papal idolatry which would have had at least some basis with Pope Benedict
Does anybody here remember that one class you had where there was one student who always raised his hand and wouldn't shut up or give anyone else a chance to contribute? You know, the kid who made your eyes roll just when you heard his name?
That's kind of the sensation I get when I go into the comment section and see three consecutive commentaries from the same person. What's worse is that they are all quite predictable in their content.
Anonymous at 7:06 A.M. said..."Uh....Mark Thomas......if you were asked to drink the Kool Aid would you drink it?"
I reject the Kool-Aid offered by Mister John Nolan, and others, who reject the very words of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ assured us that He speaks through His Pope, as well as His bishops who are in communion with His Pope.
Anonymous, in regard to Jesus Christ speaking through His Pope, as well as bishops in communion with the Pope, do you reject Jesus Christ's teaching in question — "He who heareth you, heareth me"?
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I reject Papal Idolatry....which is what YOU are all about. As Anonymous 7:45AM said so rightly:
Mark Thomas give it a rest - no one is interested in your papal idolatry which would have had at least some basis with Pope Benedict.
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