Did St Padre Pio think dancing was an invitation to sin? And if so is he correct?

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Doug23

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I read that St Pio said that “dancing is an invitation to sin”:
The Confession,

the manner he said it seemed to be divinely inspired. Outside of the liturgy I like dancing before God at charismatic events and giving God praise and just wondered how this fits in with Catholic belief ( I accept dancing at Mass is wrong).
 
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He was talking to a specific person going to a specific kind of “disco.” Certain forms of dancing are sinful or occasions of sin. Others are not.
 
From the article you posted:
A man once went to St. Giovanni Rotondo to confess to Padre Pio. It was between 1954 and 1955. When he finished the accusation of his sins Padre Pio said: “Do you have anything else to confess?” and he said, “No Father!” He repeated the question: “Do you have anything else to confess?” “No Father!” For a third time Padre Pio asked him: "Do you have anything else to confess? At this third negative answer the hurricane exploded. With the voice of the Holy Spirit Padre Pio howled: “Go away! Go away! Because you are not reformed of your sins!”
The man was also petrified because of the shame that he felt in front of so many people. Then he tried to say something but Padre Pio said: "Keep silent, gossiper, you have spoken enough; I now want to speak. Is it true that you go to discos?” “Yes, Father.” “Do you know that dancing is an invitation to the sin?”
The man was surprised and he didn’t know what to say: he had the membership card of a disco in his wallet. The man promised not to commit any other sins and after a lot of effort he received absolution. (bold word mine)
He didn’t actually say dancing is sin.
 
Twerking is probably one of those kinds of dance. I would think any kind of dancing that stirs up lust could be sinful. That got me thinking, and realizing I did a lot that when in my younger days.

I was away from the Church for many years, and made a big Confession when I returned. I kind of just told a narrative of my life, hitting on all the major sins of my life and lifestyle. However, I am often bothered when something like this comes up. I didn’t specifically confess lascivious dancing, because I never thought about it. Then I start worrying. I led a pretty wild life at times, and I committed so many sins. It’s impossible to remember all of them, until I I see something that reminds me.

What am I to do? 😥
 
No he didn’t think so, and it doesn’t matter if he did.

David danced before the Ark.

The Church doesn’t teach that dancing is wrong, even if individual members of it think so (even saints).

St. John Vianney preached against dancing and drinking alcohol and such. That is not the teaching of Holy Mother Church, just the opinion, at that particular time in history, at that particular place, and of his own flock at Ars.

We are not teetotalers, Anabaptists, Quakers or Shakers. We are Catholics.

Deacon Christopher
 
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There are a lot of dubiously sourced webpages claiming Padre Pio said this and that. At this point, I take them with a grain of salt.

Anything purporting to describe Padre Pio saying something in confession clearly didn’t come from Padre Pio due to the seal of the confessional. It would likely have either come from the person who made the confession, who may have also left out a number of important details, or it could just be a made-up story or hearsay attributed to Padre Pio.

Padre Pio had a gift from God of reading hearts. He could tell if someone had simply forgotten some sin or was hiding some sin. Even assuming this happened, it sounds like the disco was an occasion of sin for the man who went there, who presumably was indulging in things like excessive drink and/or lust when he went.

The Catholic Church does NOT teach that dancing in general is a sin or that discos in general are sinful. Some dancing is meant to be sexually arousing or suggestive, like twerking or “gentleman’s club” dancing or “dirty” dancing, and obviously those dances are sinful. Some discos also have sinful activities regularly happening there like sex, prostitution, drug use, excessive drinking, sinful forms of dancing, immodestly dressed patrons, sexual assault etc. and obviously it can be sinful or a near occasion of sin for people to visit them.
 
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I don’t think dancing is a sin. But there are certain way to interprete ‘dancing’ that can lead to sin. For example growing up I used to go once in a while in dancing clubs with friends. In certain dancing places everybody knew there was easy access to recreational drugs, underage drinking and casual sex. In that context going ‘dancing’ was leading to sin.
 
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Dancing that is an expression of lust is of course wrong. Dancing that invites others to view oneself as an object of lust are wrong. I don’t mean anything glamorous whatsoever, but dancing meant to arouse a jealous, coveteous or lustful response in the viewer or viewers.
 
When one realizes that St Pio died in 1968, then looks at the history of using the word “Disco”, well, I would think that the good Father’s idea of disco and my idea are different things

en.m.wikipedia.org

Disco - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
In Italy of Padre Pio’s time probably what was translated as ‘disco’ was a ‘balera’, a dancing hall. I am sure there was no disco music but very likely the place offered a chance to get ‘relaxed’ (drinking etc) and find easily ‘available’ ladies. I don’t think it has anything to do with the type of music or with dancing itself. By the way, Church doesn’t teach anything about dance being sinful.
 
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Some dancing does provide a near occasion for sin. Other dancing is just aerobic exercise.

D
 
You could always mention things you forgot to confess the next time you go to confession. As long as you didn’t leave it out on purpose, since this would invalidate the confession. If that’s the case then you would have to confess all your sins since your last valid confession. As long as your are operating according to your conscience then trust in God’s mercy.
 
Dancing? What’s that? Real dancing is where the man and woman hold each other, not the nonsense invented later.
 
I left nothing out on purpose, so I guess as things pop up that i overlooked, I’ll just confess them. Thank you!
 
Dancing is not a sin. This is an objective fact that we don’t have to wonder about. The Church directly tells us what a grave sin is, otherwise it would not be capable or competent with performing the ministry given to it by Jesus Christ.

Dancing can sometimes be an occasion for sin, including grave sin. This is self-evident imo.
 
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