VATICAN CITY — Faithful married love, in which a husband loves his wife like Christ loves the Church, is “revolutionary,” Pope Francis said Wednesday.
The Pope focused his remarks at the general audience on spousal fidelity in every vocation.
“A call to love … manifests itself in fidelity,” Pope Francis said Oct. 31 in St. Peter’s Square.
“This letter of St. Paul is revolutionary: to say a husband should love like Christ loves the Church,” the Pope continued in a departure from his prepared remarks. “It’s a revolution, always on the way of love.”
Pope Francis’ comments came as a part of a weekly catechesis on the Ten Commandments. This Wednesday, the Pope reflected on the Sixth Commandment, “Do not commit adultery.”
“Who, then, is the adulterer, the lustful, the unfaithful?” asked the Pope. “He is an immature person, who … interprets situations based on his own well-being and satisfaction.”
“The human body is not an instrument of pleasure, but the place of our call to love, and in authentic love there is no room for lust and for its superficiality. Men and women deserve more!” he continued.
“This command is for everyone; it is a paternal word of God addressed to every man and woman,” the Pope said.
“Let us remember that the path of human maturity is the path itself of love that goes from receiving care to the ability to offer care, from receiving life to the ability to give life,” he added.
The Holy Father stated twice, “Every Christian vocation is spousal.”
“In the priesthood, one loves God’s people with all the paternity, tenderness and strength of a husband and a father,” the Pope explained.
“The Church does not need aspirants to the role of priests, but men to whom the Holy Spirit touches the heart with unconditional love for the Bride of Christ,” he said.
We start from Christ’s “fidelity, his tenderness, his generosity,” Pope Francis said, and from there, “we look with faith at marriage and every vocation, and we understand the full meaning of sexuality.”