What
the Catholic Church Teaches
"Lust
is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual
pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for
itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.
By
masturbation
is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs
in order to derive sexual pleasure. Both the Magisterium of the
Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense
of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained
that
masturbation is an intrinsically and
gravely disordered action.
The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason,
outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose. For
here sexual pleasure is sought outside of the sexual relationship
which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning
of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true
love is achieved.
Fornication
is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman.
It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human
sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the
generation and education of children.
Moreover, it is a grave scandal when
there is corruption of the young.
Pornography
consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy
of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third
parties.
It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act,
the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury
to the dignity of its participants, (actors, vendors, the public),
since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit
for others.
It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy
world.
It is a grave offense.
Civil authorities should prevent the
production and distribution of pornographic materials."
-
Catechism of the Catholic Church (2351-54)
