Pope Francis has disclosed that he made a vow 34 years ago to stop watching television.
The revered clergyman said he placed himself on the self-imposed ban after stumbling across a smutty show.
He explained that the vulgar viewing was so bad for his conscience that he had to place a TV ban on himself.
The Supreme Pontiff said he hasn’t watched the box for almost 34 years.
He said: “I was watching television in the lounge with my fellow priests.
“It was July 15, 1990, and some scenes of an adult nature, to put it delicately, were being shown — something that was not good for the heart.
“Nothing risqué, of course, but when I went back to my room, I said to myself, ‘A priest cannot look at such things.’
“And so, the following day, during the mass for the feast of the Madonna del Carmelo, I vowed never to watch television again.”
His Holinesss, 87, said that one of the last things he watched properly on TV was the fall of the Berlin Wall – in 1989.
He, however, stated that there have been a couple of exceptions to his self-imposed sanction.
Speaking via his new book “Life: My Story Through History”, Pope Francis said, “Only very occasionally do I allow myself to watch: for example, when a new president is sworn in, or I watched briefly once when there had been a plane crash.
“I switched it on, too, to follow Sunday mass while I was being treated at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome.
“But I didn’t watch the coronation of Charles III, the new British king, for example, or many other important world events. Not out of disdain, but because I made a vow.”
