Pope: even nuns and priests watch adult content online

Updated on: 27 October 2022

Justinas Vainilavičius
Senior Journalist

Pope Francis said nuns and priests shared “a vice so many have” in his warning about online dangers.

Responding to a question from an audience of seminary students in the Vatican about the use of modern technology among a new generation of priests, Francis urged them to resist the “temptation” of pornography.

“It is a vice so many people have, so many lay people, so many lay women, and even priests and nuns. The devil enters from there,” the pope said.

The pope said he was not only referring to “criminal pornography like child abuse” but to “somewhat normal pornography” too.

Further stoking the Catholic guilt, Francis said that “the heart that receives Jesus every day” cannot receive pornographic information. Therefore, prospective priests should delete any adult content stored on their phones.

“I tell you, it weakens the soul. It weakens the soul. The devil enters from there: it weakens the priestly heart,” Francis warned.

The pope also spoke of his own difficult relationship with modern digital tools, recounting a story of how he received a cell phone “the size of a shoe” 30 years ago and gave it back immediately after making just one call to his sister.

“It is not my world, but you must use them,” Francis told seminarians and priests.