Rome press room, January 17, 2024 / 9:12 a.m.
Continuing his series of catecheses on vice and virtue, Pope Francis dedicated his general audience on Wednesday to emphasizing the difference between love and lust, affirming that “in Christianity, there is no condemnation of the sexual instinct.
By centering his reflection on “the human experience”, the pope was inspired by the Song of Songs, also called Song of Songs or Song of Solomon, which he described as “a marvelous love poem between two lovers” which reveals the fall love “is one of the most astonishing realities of existence”.
The Pope observed that in this process there is an altruistic factor in which “a person in love becomes generous, likes to give gifts, writes letters and poems. He stops thinking about himself to concentrate completely on the other.
“To love is to respect others, to seek their happiness, to cultivate empathy for their feelings, to dispose ourselves in the knowledge of a body, a psychology and a soul which are not ours and which must be contemplated for the beauty they carry,” the Pope told the faithful gathered in the Paul VI Hall.
