Why does he want to cut off the relationship?

[Catalinamary]

I have been seeing this Italian man since May. We live in two different cities and I go to visit him almost once a month. He seemed to be interested in me. We have some physicial intimacy, like kissing and cuddling. Recently he's lost a very dear family member and he's falllen into depression. He's been seeing a therapist but still has 2 or 3 bad days every week.
When I asked him to clarify the status of our relationship, he said that he was not ready to enter into a relationship because of the depression (which I totally understand). But he also added that he wanted to cut off the physical intimacy part. He said it was not fair for me. He even said that he regreted that we had started this physical intimacy.
I want to know why he regreted that we've been physically intimate. Does it mean that he thinks I'm a poor partner in the field of sexual intimacy? I just don't understand it. For me, his regret about becoming sexually intimate with me is a humilation, like my sexual attraction was being annihilated. The odd thing is that it's not as if he doesn't want the intimacy. It's him who initiates the sexual contact everytime we see each other. He even told me that the reason why we had this conversation at a restaurant but not my apartment was that he was afraid that he might not be able to control himself. So if he wanted it, why did he want to cut it off and why did he regret that we've started it?

[benfletcher82]

Speaking as someone who has chronic on/off depression, sometimes... you just can't do anything at all. You end up regretting everything you have ever done at all, I guess this includes being physical with you because he's just not ready to do so, doesn't have the willpower, started everything at the wrong time. He probably doesn't think anything awful about you or anything like that, just needs time to heal maybe.