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
2:56 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: https://www.americamagazine.org/vatican-dispatch/2026/04/23/pope-leo-plane-same-sex-blessings-migration
Heaven and hell in post-Vatican II Catholicism: How to move from fear to love: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/09/03/kaveny-why-be-catholic-moral-theology-248559

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