New online platform fights porn addiction under the patronage of Blessed Carlo Acutis

By Solène Tadié

Paris, France, Apr 18, 2023 / 14:00 pm

Pornography use and addiction are sources of distress in modern marriages and a significant reason for higher divorce rates over the past 20 years. The accessibility of porn on the internet, as well as a loss of spirituality and the meaning of sex and marriage, has given rise to the widespread use of porn.

This reality is the reason for a new online discussion and prayer platform called SOS Porn Deliverance, which was recently launched under the patronage of the Italian computer programmer Blessed Carlos Acutis.

The platform, available in English since March 19, was originally launched in 2020 in French by the online evangelization association Lights in the Dark, founded in 2015. 

The association has since developed several thematic platforms to announce the Gospel to the peripheries of the Church, including the themes of life after death, the Holy Shroud of Turin, and the meaning of Christmas and Valentine’s Day. “E-missionaries” are present on each platform to answer live questions from internet users.

This latest initiative dedicated to addressing pornography addiction was seen by its founders as a priority given recent figures on divorce, which reveal that addiction to porn may be responsible for 56% of divorces in the U.S. and that pornographic content constitutes 25% of global video traffic on the internet worldwide. In France alone, 21% of 14- to 24-year-olds reportedly watch porn at least once a week. In the U.S., a large majority of minors under 17 have access to porn.

“We want to make Christ known and loved to our contemporaries who do not yet know him, knowing that Jesus can free them from their chains, namely their addictions,” Jean-Baptiste Maillard, co-founder of Lights in the Dark, told CNA. “We offer the opportunity for those affected by this scourge to chat confidentially with an e-missionary trained in this mission, which is first and foremost to listen with compassion and to bear witness to the love of God in our lives.”

A 30-day healing journey called “Freedom Adventure” is also available to internet users who can receive support from the 1,100 or so sponsors on the platform. The sponsors recently dedicated their Lenten intentions of prayers to those struggling with porn addiction. 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, one of the first and most famous figures of online evangelization and a key reference for Lights in the Dark since its foundation, is also at the center of this initiative, which includes a prayer of deliverance through his intercession.

The prayer received the imprimatur of the archbishop of Bourges (central France), Jérôme Beau, as well as the approval of Acutis’ mother.

“We also wrote to Pope Francis in August 2022 and were pleased to receive a response three weeks later in which he encouraged us to ‘continue to reach out to the wounded and fragile, in search of meaning in their lives,’ and to be ‘a beacon of hope’ for those who are discouraged and sad,” Maillard said. “The Holy Father also encouraged us to ‘take care of the fragile members of our families, of our society, of our peoples.’” 

The founder of Lights in the Dark also indicated that since its creation in French in September 2020, SOS Porn Deliverance has reached approximately 20,000 people affected by porn addiction. They represent the most diverse profiles — men and women of all ages, including a few priests, religious, and seminarians. 

In the long term, Maillard and his Lights in the Dark team aim to establish themselves more widely in the English-speaking world with increased training of volunteer e-missionaries who could work on various platforms, creating new dynamic national communities.

“Our outstretched hand is [to provide] for all these people, especially those addicted to porn, a real lifeline, which they have sometimes been waiting for several decades,” explained Maillard, who also reported several cases of profound healing through the intercession of Carlo Acutis. Many of those testimonies are available on the website.

“These testimonies encourage many addicts who hear about this good news,” Maillard said. “It shows them that getting out of porn, with God’s help, is really possible.”

Solène Tadié is the Europe Correspondent for the National Catholic Register. She is French-Swiss and grew up in Paris. After graduating from Roma III University with a degree in journalism, she began reporting on Rome and the Vatican for Aleteia. She joined L’Osservatore Romano in 2015, where she successively worked for the French section and the Cultural pages of the Italian daily newspaper. She has also collaborated with several French-speaking Catholic media organizations. Solène has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.