How Catholics became obsessed with sex (and rules)

About this episode

The episode explores the historical and theological reasons behind the Catholic Church's focus on sexual morality.

This week on the “Jesuitical” podcast, Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis speak to theologian and legal scholar Cathleen Kaveny about why Catholics seem obsessed with questions of sexual morality. They were prompted to dig into the historical development of Catholic sexual ethics after Pope Leo said in a press conference, “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues…” 00:00 Leo's comments on sexual morality 4:08 What Scripture says 6:05 How Catholic teaching developed 9:30 What is "natural law"? 16:37 How Catholics became obsessed with sex 20:26 JPII's "theology of the body" 24:41 Sex and justice 28:50 Sex, confession and salvation 36:35 A healthy approach to sex Links: Pope Leo speaks on same-sex blessings, migration and more on plane back to Rome Heaven and hell in post-Vatican II Catholicism: How to move from fear to love You can follow us on X and on Instagram @jesuiticalshow. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/jesuitical. Support Jesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at americamagazine.org/subscribe…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ashley McKinless, Zac Davis

Guest: Cathleen Kaveny

Topics covered

• Catholic sexual morality
• historical development of Catholic ethics
• natural law
• theology of the body
• sex and justice
• confession and salvation

Keywords

• Catholicism
• sexual ethics
• Pope Leo
• natural law
• theology of the body
• sexual morality
• confession
• salvation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: America Media, Pope Leo, America magazine

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