Church Teaching

Our God is a God of Mercy.  Centuries before Jesus came to us in the flesh, when Jerusalem was occupied and the Israelites "lamented" their seemingly lost cause, God reasured the preeminence of mercy.  "The Lord's acts of mercy are not exhausted, His compassion is not spent; they are renewed each morning - great is your faithfulness!" (Lamentations 3:22-23)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains Jesus' mission.  "Jesus invites sinners to the table of the kingdom: 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.'  He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them and the vast 'joy i heaven over one sinner who repents.'  The subreme proof of his love will be the sacrifice of his own life 'for the forgiveness of sins.'" (CCC 545)

Confident of God's gracious mercy, we must also honestly address sins against chastity.  "All pornography is immoral and harmful, and can never be justified, including within marriage.  Using and/or producing pornography is a sin against chastity and against human dignity.  It reduces the body to an erotic stimulant.  It harms viewers and does 'grave injury' to those involved in its production." (CCC 2354)

In addition to pronography the Catholic teaching includes lust, fornication and maturbation as offenses against chastity.

Questions about sins of this nature can be addressed by priests, particularly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.