Pope: possessive love is the demon of lust

At his general audience, Pope Francis called to look at the root of "toxic relationships" that tragic news events also bring to the fore. On the eve of the Week for Christian Unity the invitation to pray that "Christians may reach full communion and bear unanimous witness of love toward all." And at the World Economic Forum he writes, "Peace can be nothing other than the fruit of justice."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Behind the "toxic relationships" that transform the sexual instinct into a possession that preys on and consumes others and which increasingly often leads to tragic news events such as feminicides, there is the trivialization of idea of chastity. Which should not be confused with "sexual abstinence" but is education in respect for others in the couple's relationship.

Pope Francis said this today while addressing the faithful during the general audience held in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. Continuing the cycle of catechesis on vices and virtues, the pontiff focused on lust. “While gluttony is voracity towards food – he explained – this second vice is a sort of 'voracity' towards another person, that is, the poisoned bond that human beings maintain among themselves, especially in the sphere of sexuality ”.

The Pope recalled that "in Christianity there is no condemnation of the sexual instinct", so much so that a book of the Bible, the Song of Songs, "is a stupendous love poem between two engaged couples". “However,” he added, “this beautiful dimension of our humanity is not free from dangers.” “If it is not polluted by vice, falling in love is one of the purest feelings. A person in love stops thinking about himself to be completely projected towards the other. And if you ask a lover why she loves, she won't find an answer: in many ways her love is unconditional, without any reason."

But lust is precisely the vice that disfigures this feeling, and it is "particularly hateful". First of all because it devastates relationships between people. To document it – commented Pope Francis – “unfortunately, everyday news is sufficient. How many relationships that started in the best way have then changed into toxic relationships, ones of possession of the other, devoid of respect and a sense of limits?”.

In these loves, chastity was missing: "a virtue that should not be confused with sexual abstinence", but is rather "the will to never possess the other". “To love is to respect the other, to seek his happiness, to cultivate empathy for his feelings, to understand a body, a psychology and a soul that are not ours, and which must be contemplated for the beauty of which they carry. Lust, on the other hand, mocks all of this: it preys, robs, consumes hastily, it doesn't want to listen to the other but only to its own needs and pleasure."

But there is also a second reason why lust is a dangerous vice. “Among all man's pleasures – Francis said – sexuality has a powerful voice. It involves all the senses; it dwells in both the body and the psyche; it is beautiful but if not disciplined with patience, if not inscribed in a relationship and in a story where two individuals transform it into a loving dance, it turns into a chain that deprives man of freedom. Sexual pleasure is undermined by pornography: satisfaction without a relationship that can generate forms of addiction."

“Winning the battle against lust, against the 'thingification' of the other - added the Pope - can be a lifelong undertaking. However, the prize of this battle is the most important of all, because it is about preserving that beauty that God wrote in his creation when he imagined the love between man and woman. That beauty that makes us believe that building a story together is better than chasing adventures, cultivating tenderness is better than bowing to the demon of possession, serving is better than conquering. Because if there is no love - he concluded - life is sad loneliness".

Finally, in his greetings to the groups of pilgrims present, Pope Francis recalled that tomorrow begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which this year has as its theme the commandment "Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself ”. “I invite you to pray - said the pontiff - so that Christians may reach full communion and bear a unanimous testimony of love towards all, especially towards the most fragile”.

Also today, the Holy See released the text of a letter that Pope Francis sent to the personalities of world politics and economics participating in the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The peace for which the peoples of our world yearn - the pontiff writes to them - cannot be anything other than the fruit of justice. It requires something more than the simple setting aside of the instruments of war; it requires addressing the injustices that are at the basis of conflicts How is it possible that in today's world we still starve, are exploited, condemned to illiteracy, deprived of basic medical care and shelter?"

"In a world increasingly threatened by violence, aggression and fragmentation - concludes the pontiff - it is essential that states  and businesses unite in promoting far-sighted and ethically valid models of globalization, which by their very nature must entail the subordination of the search for power and individual gain, be it political or economic, to the common good of our human family, giving priority to the poor, the needy and those who find themselves in the most vulnerable situations".