What Does the Church Say About Libido?

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Are people with higher libdo like those who have Hypersexuality (Nymphomania or Satyriasis) culpable for sexual sins? I’m trying to elaborate my question but really I would just like to know what the church says about people with different levels of libdo.
 
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The human person isn’t that simple.

A person with a very high libido can theoretically use that raw energy to have lots and lots of sex or they could use that energy to be a CEO or a priest or an athlete, etc. They have to find a way to channel whatever they have towards good and noble purposes, otherwise it will be channeled towards evil purposes.

The youth are disproportionately blamed/targeted for committing sins, and this is an injustice and a sin against charity by those who often target them in rants or conversation or gossip. Temptation doesn’t go away until your heart stops beating, and the devil shows zero respite or mercy to a person based on age. Pope Francis speaks frequently about how active Satan is in the world and he wants his flock to have no illusions about this.

Confessors anecdotally report having elderly confess viewing pornography more often than youth, though in part that may be because people eventually come to the Sacrament in older age. Having a high/low libido is not the same thing as having the virtue of purity or any other virtue. A person can easily have a low libido and an extremely impure mind, or they can have a high libido and a pure mind. Purity is about how you view and treat other people as it pertains to their body and their physical attractiveness and it’s really a subset of the virtue of Charity.
 
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MovieNerd said:
Are people with higher libdo like those who have Hypersexuality (Nymphomania or Satyriasis) culpable for sexual sins?
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That depends. Some mental illnesses diminish capacity for some sins.
MovieNerd said:
really I would just like to know what the church says about people with different levels of libdo.
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It doesn’t say anything about different levels of libido.

Aside from being mentally ill, which can diminish the use of reason in some cases, we are in control of our passions and are to exercise virtue. We are all called to chastity in our state in life.
 
In any event…
the desire that underlies libido is oriented toward the good of union with others.
You may experience that desire and you may practice that desire in overt sexual expression that is not well ordered.
Or you may channel it chastely in a well ordered and well integrated way.

This is a matter of human responsibility. A person may or may not be culpable for a particular sin. Culpability is really before God alone.

At the same time, the Church always calls humanity to the freedom of responsible choosing, responsible acting, responsible living.
That is a lifelong struggle.
 
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I thought Libido was where babies who were baptized went after death, so I have nothing to add.

🙂
 
MovieNerd said:
… I would just like to know what the church says about people with different levels of libdo.
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Temptation is not sin. Sin requires consent of the will to act on the temptation. We are given grace to overcome temptation which occurs with our cooperation.
  • God gives all the just sufficent grace (gratia proxime vel remote sufficiens) for the observation of the Divine Commandments. (De fide.) - Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott, p. 240.
See Pope Innocent VII, Apostolic Constitution Cum occasione, 1653, Condemnation of the Errors of Cornelius Jansen from his work Augustinus, declared and condemned as rash, impious, blasphemous, condemned by anathema, and heretical:
I. Some of God’s precepts are impossible to the just, who wish and strive to keep them, according to the present powers which they have; the grace, by which they are made possible, is also wanting.
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1 Cor. 10, 13 : No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Catechism
1808 Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. "The Lord is my strength and my song."70 "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."71
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Saint Mary of Egypt had a high libido and so became a prostitute. However, later she still converted and eventually became a canonized saint. Libido is not a determinant.
 
Transpose the question to another realm: Are people who have a high temper sinning when they punch someone’s lights out?

Of course they are! “I have a high temper and he made me mad” is not an excuse for violence, anymore than “I have a high sex drive and she came on to me” is an excuse for adultery or fornication.
 
That statement could be mined for some funny dialog for a script.
 
vern_humphrey said:
Transpose the question to another realm: Are people who have a high temper sinning when they punch someone’s lights out?

Of course they are! “I have a high temper and he made me mad” is not an excuse for violence, anymore than “I have a high sex drive and she came on to me” is an excuse for adultery or fornication.
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Well, I’m not sure I’d agree with that entirely. There’s a difference between someone with a volatile temper and someone with a volatile temper who has been making efforts to control it by working with his/her priest, counselors, doctors, etc.
 
Well, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? A person with a high temper or with a high libido MUST work to control themselves. Neither temper nor libido excuse sins.
 
Dan_Defender said:
Saint Mary of Egypt had a high libido and so became a prostitute. However, later she still converted and eventually became a canonized saint. Libido is not a determinant.
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I don’t know her story, but one would think she would’ve been in a prime spot for evangelizing and converting others.
 
Confession, regardless of the sin, will result in absolution. But the issue is, “Would a predisposition to do something excuse a sinful act?”

The answer is no.
 
If she was a prostitute, there were plenty of people to be converted, Muslim or not.
 
Please correct me if I am wrong.
With help of the Grace anything can be sanctified, except sin. Sin can never be Holy act or situation.
But any predisposition we have can be sanctified and used to merit Graces, because the stronger temptations we have the bigger is our reward in overcoming them. So, people like that can be really blessed if they manage to overcome their high libido with will. Because our will is what God wants from us. So we can do His Will.
 
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