Pope Francis reminds women victims of sexist violence: “That is not love.”

The Pope Francisco spoke today of the “degeneration of love” and today recalled the women who suffer sexist violence, to whom he said: “That is not love.”

“Arrogance leads to the degeneration of love, to the abuse of others, by making the loved one suffer, and I think of sick love that turns into violence, and how many women are victims of it today. This is not Love”, said Pope Francis in his message today during the prayer of the “regina coeli” overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

The pontiff stressed that “Loving, as the Lord loves us, means appreciating the person who is by our side and respecting his freedom, loving him as he is, not as we want him to be, free of charge.”

“Ultimately, Jesus asks us to live in his love, not in our ideas, not in the worship of ourselves. Whoever lives in self-worship, lives in a mirror”, he added and that “Jesus asks us to get out of the pretense of controlling and managing others.”

“To love like Christ means to say no to other loves that the world offers us: love of money, of success, of power”, he added.

He denounced that these “deceptive ways take us away from the love of the Lord and lead us to be increasingly selfish, narcissistic and abuse others.”