The Associated Press is reporting that the Pope has endorsed the use of condoms in some cases?
The headline blares “Pope: Condom Use Can be Justified in Some Cases”
Really? The Pope says contraception is ok in some cases? Nope.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that the use of condoms can be justified in some cases, such as for male prostitutes seeking to prevent the spread of HIV.
The pontiff makes the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times.” The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts of the book Saturday.
Church teaching has long opposed condoms since they’re a form of artificial contraception. The Vatican has been harshly criticized for its position given the AIDS crisis.
Benedict said that for male prostitutes — for whom contraception isn’t a central issue — condoms are not a moral solution. But he said they could be justified “in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.”
As always, the condom as contraception is always wrong. Condoms used by male prostitutes for whom contraception is not an issue, might be able to use condoms for reducing the spread of infection.
Even Time Magazine calls out these articles as disingenuous.
The headline around the world was that the Pope was finally allowing the use of condoms in certain circumstances. The news came after an Italian newspaper broke an embargo on a book-length interview with Benedict XVI by the German journalist Peter Seewald, perhaps the only popular interlocutor whom the Pontiff, in his previous role as a Cardinal, has cooperated with on such a scale.
Benedict’s so-called condom concession was not a huge one. He still proscribes the use of condoms as contraception (as he does the birth control pill). His specific example, that of a male prostitute choosing to use a condom in a conscious choice to prevent HIV infection, is couched as “a first step in the direction of moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants.”
Move along. Nothing to see here.
November 22, 2010 at 1:45 am
Ah, let's see where to begin?
It may be the case that in "some" cases the use of a condom by a Homosexual prostitute may indicate "a first step in the direction of moralization, a first assumption of responsibility", BUT it is also just as likely to be a way for a Homosexual prostitute to reassure a nervous or reluctant client about the risks of a homosexual encounter.
In such a case it would be anything but a set in the direction of a more human understanding of sexuality. It (use of condoms to prevent the spread of disease) would have the effect of furthering a degenerate way of living sexually.
Anyway, since all acts of sodomy are intrinsically immoral and cannot be condoned under any circumstances, the use of condoms, no matter what the intention of the participants, can never make an immoral act moral.
Therefore, the Holy Father should be more sensible and refrain from making such obscure hairsplitting distinctions and stick to the basics: Sodomy is sin, it will send you to hell, don't do it. Using a condom to avoid getting AIDS is the least of your worries.
John Vicente,
Toronto
November 22, 2010 at 3:06 am
Oh for crying out loud.
The Holy Father had a bad day, didn't speak clearly enough (hey, he's in his eighties!), the MSM does what it will always do (slant the news). End of story.
Now, can we get on with trying to insure our individual salvation?
November 22, 2010 at 10:30 pm
But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil. Mt 5:37
November 23, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Or Ephesians 5:12: it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.