Pope Francis believes culinary and sexual pleasures are "simply divine"

You rarely hear a pope say that.

In a book of interviews published Wednesday in Italy, Pope Francis believes that culinary or sexual pleasure is "simply divine".

"Pleasure comes directly from God, it is neither Catholic, nor Christian, nor anything else, it is simply divine", develops the sovereign pontiff, who answers the questions of Carlo Petrini, writer and Italian gastronomer.

"The pleasure of eating serves to keep you in good health while eating, just as sexual pleasure is made to make love more beautiful and ensure the perpetuation of the species."

Unusual remarks for a pope, while Francis is categorically opposed to a "bigoted morality" of the Church which would refuse any notion of pleasure.

"The Church condemned inhuman, crude, vulgar pleasure, but on the other hand she always accepted human, sober, moral pleasure", he explains.

According to him, "bigotry" has existed in the history of the Catholic Church but constitutes "a misinterpretation of the Christian message".

This vision "caused enormous damage, which is still strongly felt today in certain cases", he laments.

"On the contrary, the pleasure of eating as sexual pleasure comes from God," insisted the leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics.

Fan

of Babette's Feast

In the book, the Pope underlines in passing his unconditional admiration for the film

, which takes place in an ultra-Puritan Danish Protestant community of the 19th century, invited to a sumptuous banquet prepared by a French cook who wins the lottery. .

"For me it is a hymn to Christian charity, to love", appreciates the Pope. 

The book which contains three interviews (

) was written by the world founder of the "slow food" concept created in the 80s to oppose "fast food ".

It is centered on the very social vision of Pope Francis on ecology, expressed in his encyclical "Laudato Si" published in 2015.