Pope Francis has seemingly co-signed the use of dating apps like Tinder, saying it’s a completely “normal” option to meet potential partners.
The 86-year-old pontiff explained his position in a newly released Hulu documentary titled The Pope: Answers. As its title suggests, the film features Francis taking questions from 10 Spanish-speaking adults, who were between the ages of 20-25. The conversation was equal parts enlightening and spicy, as it tackled everything from sex and porn to masturbation and inclusivity to immigration and racism.
According to NBC News, Francis told the group that sex was a “beautiful” thing and admitted that the church’s teachings on the subject was “still in diapers.”
“Sex is one of the beautiful things God gave to human beings,” he said. “… Christians haven’t always had a mature catechesis on sex.”
The Pope was also pressed about the mistreatment of LGTBQ people, and whether the church would ever accept the community. Francis acknowledged there are some individuals who use the Gospel “to condemn others because they don’t know how to ask forgiveness for their own faults.”
“The church cannot close its doors on anybody,” he said, referring to the LGTBQ population. “I don’t have the right to cast anyone out from the church. My job is to receive, always.”
Though he appeared to hold relatively progressive views on sex-related topics, Francis had a much more conservative stance when it came to abortion. He said priests needed to show mercy and “not ask many questions” when ministering women who’ve had terminations; however, he maintained that abortions should be looked at “scientifically, and with a certain coldness.”
“It good to call things by their name. It is one thing to accompany the person who had one [abortion], quite another to justify the act,” he said, adding that at one month from conception a human embryo is no longer “a bunch of cells that got together, but a systemized human life.”
The Pope: Answers was shot by co-directors Jordi Évole and Màrius Sanchez in Rome last summer. You can watch the documentary now on Huly.
