Pope Francis Calls Sex Outside Marriage ‘Not the Most Serious Sin’

Pope Francis, amid the ousting of a French archbishop who allegedly broke the Catholic Church’s celibacy rule, has said that sex outside of marriage “is not the most serious sin.”

Per the Independent, the Pope held a question and answer session with reporters on Monday and was asked about the resignation of Michel Aupetit, the Archbishop of Paris, who stepped down this month after a French publication alleged that he had engaged in a sexual affair with an unnamed woman. In his role at the church, Aupetit was expected to follow clerical celibacy and abstain from sex. 

“Sins of the flesh are not the most serious,” said Pope Francis on Monday. Still, he accepted the Archbishop’s offer of resignation, but maintained that he did so to avoid further “gossip” around Aupetit. “It was a failing on his part, a failing against the sixth commandment, but not a total one,” added the Pope. “We’re all sinners. When the gossip grows and grows and removes someone’s good name, he cannot govern. This is an injustice. That’s why I accepted the resignation of Aupetit: not on the altar of truth but on the altar of hypocrisy.”

As the allegations against the Archbishop first surfaced, he initially denied the affair. “I poorly handled the situation with a person who was in contact many times with me,” he said upon his resignation. During the Q&A session, which was held on a flight to Italy from Greece, Pope Francis also cautioned the youth to be wary of “the false needs of consumerism.” 

“Today’s sirens want to charm you with seductive and insistent messages that focus on easy gains, the false needs of consumerism, the cult of physical wellness, of entertainment at all costs,” he explained. “All these are like fireworks: they flare up for a moment, but then turn to smoke in the air.”