The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has released a 10-year anniversary preface to its document on the harms of pornography. Source: The Catholic Herald.
Create in Me a Pure Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography was originally issued in 2015 to counteract the growing prevalence of internet pornography.
It offers guidance to those exploited by the pornography industry, those who exploit others through it, and also to parents, users, spouses, young people and clergy on how to respond to its widespread presence in contemporary culture.
In the 10 years since the document’s publication, COVID-19, the use of artificial intelligence and an increasing dependence on technology have all contributed to the prevalence of pornography.
The preface to the 2025 edition notes that modern society is increasingly living in a state of social isolation. The USCCB states that the “loneliness epidemic” can push individuals towards pornography, which “offers a deceptive substitute for real relationships”.
While religious institutions – most notably the Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – have long denounced the moral and cultural damage caused by pornography, a growing number of studies conducted by secular organisations are also drawing attention to its wide-ranging negative effects.
A 2022 meta-analysis published in Human Communication Research concluded that exposure to pornography, particularly violent content, is associated with increased sexual aggression.
A 2023 study by Brigham Young University in Utah found that pornography use by either men or women at any level negatively affected romantic relationships, with a particularly harmful impact on relationship stability.
A 2024 study in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health found that early exposure to pornography among adolescents was linked to the development of harmful sexual attitudes and behaviours.
The USCCB calls out for action against this moral evil in the 2025 preface, stating that “there is still a need for accountability for those who allow minors and other vulnerable people to be sexually exploited”, and that “only when there is genuine transparency and authentic repentance can healing take place”.
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US bishops condemn pornography’s grip on a lonely, digital society (By Thomas Edwards, The Catholic Herald)
