By Richard A. Spinello

One of the common themes of Pope Francises pontificate is the minimization of sexual irregularities or "sins below the belt." On at least three occasions, he has declared that these sins are far less grave than other sins like hatred or envy.

At a meeting with Portuguese Jesuits, Pope Francis lamented that the Church still looks at the so-called "sins of the flesh" with a "magnifying glass" just as it has "done so long for the sixth commandment." Other evils, he claimed, such as exploitation of workers, lying, and cheating, were virtually ignored while "sins below the waist were relevant." Pope Francis went on to elaborate that these sins require sensitivity and creative pastoral care.

Given their complexity, there is no simple or uniform solution such as living a chaste lifestyle.

Several years earlier in a book-length interview conducted by Dominique Wolton, the pope also conveyed a gnostic attitude about sexual transgressions: "There is a great danger for preachers, and it is that of condemning only the morality that is - pardon me - 'below the belt.'" He went on to say that compared to sins of hatred and envy "sins of the flesh are the lightest sins, because the flesh is weak." The most dangerous sins, in this perspective, "are those of the spirit" or "angelism," the

sins of pride and vanity.

Francis mentioned his admiration for a Cardinal who confided in him that as soon as someone brings up these sins "below the belt," he immediately responds, "I understand, let's move on." In this way, the penitent or parishioner will realize that "there are other mistakes that are much more important."

One wonders what this Cardinal would say to a young man caught up in the vice of pornography, as many people are today, given that this urge once satisfied can easily evolve into a crippling obsession that disrupts a person's mature self-possession. As Aquinas tells us, "concupiscence, if indulged, gathers strength."

There are many progressive Catholics with a reflexive hostility to the Church's sexual moral doctrine who agree with the pope's attempt to minimize the reality of grave sexual sin. They complain that the Catholic Church's obsession with sexual sins diverts its attention from social evils mentioned.

In a Washington Post article on Pope Francises speech to his fellow Jesuits, David Gibson chastised American Church leaders for their laser-like focus on "pelvic theology" and for being held "captive to the culture war mentality."

The pope's permissive attitude is reflected in writings such as Amoris Laetitia, Fiducia supplicans, and answers to various Dubia, which echo the same tangled reasoning about the weakness of the flesh.

This principle certainly forms the basis for the novel pastoral changes found in Fiducia supplicans, which eschews any reference to "grave sin" or the need for "conversion" when discussing "irregular unions." If sexual disorders are not such serious offenses, what can be so improper about blessing irregular and same-sex unions that fail to live up to the ideal of indissoluble, monogamous marriage?

This heterodoxy represents not only a radical breach with the teachings of the pope's predecessors but also a retreat from "ascetic Christianity." The great Italian philosopher Augusto Del Noce predicted that progressive Catholicism would ultimately yield to society's "erotic offensive" by repudiating the Church's sacred doctrines on asceticism and mortification.

True to form, progressives have passionately argued that "private" virtues such as chastity and purity have been excessively over-emphasized, especially since the Counter-Reformation; that this "sexophobic" morality is both outdated and repressive.

To validate these claims, they turn to the pillars of modern civilization, science and social sciences, which encourage a more libertine sexual ethic. "Scientism" and "sociologism," therefore, which rest on a tenuous foundation, displace the transcendent order of nature and morality.

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