Why does gravity bend light?

Answer: Mass curves spacetime itself

Mass curves spacetime itself ✓ — Correct! Einstein's general relativity says mass and energy curve spacetime itself. Light travels straight through spacetime, but spacetime is curved by massive objects, so light's path bends near them: gravitational lensing. The 1919 eclipse confirmed starlight bent by the Sun, and the effect is now used to map dark matter and distant galaxies.

Photons have mass — Wrong. Photons are massless. Gravity affects light because mass curves spacetime, and light follows those curves.

Gravity pulls photons directly — Wrong. Gravity does not act on light by tugging on a photon's mass, because photons have no rest mass. What actually happens is that massive objects curve spacetime, and light follows those curved paths.