Sex is not taboo, but is rather a “gift from God” which is designed to show love and to create life, Pope Francis has stated, while criticizing pornography as part of an “industry of lies.”

“Sexuality, sex, is a gift of God. Not taboo,” Pope Francis told a group of young people from the Diocese of Grenoble-Vienne in France on Monday. That particular comment was in response to a 16-year-old who asked how to navigate in a world that “desecrates” the human body.

“Love between a man and a woman, when it is passionate, it leads you to give your life forever. Forever. And to give it with your body and soul,” the pontiff explained, as quoted by the Catholic news website Crux.

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He went on to state that humans, due to weakness or spiritual failings, sometimes use their sexuality in a way that does not follow the “very beautiful way” it was intended. Instead, those people use it as “objectified sexuality, detached from love and used for amusement.”

Francis also criticized pornography as being part of an “industry of lies,” as it amounts to “sexuality detached from love.”

He encouraged young people to “safeguard” their sexuality well and “prepare for that love” which will be part of their entire lives.

The Catholic Church forbids premarital sex, teaching that intercourse should be solely between a husband and wife.

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It comes just one week after the pontiff appeared to comment on child sex allegations being faced by the Catholic Church, stating that the "Great Accuser" –Satan– was attacking bishops in the church. Many took that remark to be in response to a 1,400-page Pennsylvania Grand Jury report released in August which accuses over 300 ‘predator priests’ of sex abuse, and the Roman Catholic Church of covering it up for decades.

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