Pope Francis, cardinals and bishops got what they asked for during a Synod of Bishops after a couple from Sydney, Australia discussed how sex keeps them in each other's arms.

Australian couple Ron and Mavis Pirola from Sydney, who were handpicked by the Vatican to attend the two-week synod, described to about 200 prelates on Monday how maintaining a romantic relationship with their partner kept them together for as long as 55 years.

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The Pirolas, who have four children and eight grandchildren, explained to the audience of celibate men how, despite the arguments and fears of a looming failure of their marriage, they had stayed together with sex as one of their relationship's major glues.

"Gradually we came to see that the only feature that distinguishes our sacramental relationship from that of any other good Christ-centered relationship is sexual intimacy, and that marriage is a sexual sacrament with its fullest expression in sexual intercourse," their joint statement said.

They said sexual attraction was also the very reason they came together 57 years ago. The Pirolas said every little thing they did for their partner, including expressing their "longing to be intimate with each other" had been the foundation of their decades-long relationship.

Most of the prelates in attendance were taken aback by the Pirolas statement. British Cardinal Vincent Nichols said the couple's statement was unexpected, but pointed out that the statement opened up a topic that is essential to the well-being of a marriage.

The gathering, which was prompted by the result of a survey the Pope ordered to be done last year revealing that majority of churchgoers ignore the church's ban on birth control, was meant to tackle family issues such as homosexuality, sex, marriage and divorce in both liberal and conservative sense.

Pope Francis had expressed his view on taboo issues in the Roman Catholic Church explaining that the Vatican should not be "obsessed" with issues including homosexuality, abortion and contraception.

TagsSocial Issues, Behavior, Human Sexuality, Human Behavior, Pope Francis