After Condom Remarks, Vatican Confirms Shift

After Condom Remarks, Vatican Confirms Shift

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments about the use of condoms in select cases apply to women as well as men, the Vatican said Tuesday, a surprising first acknowledgment from the church that condom use can be part of a broader effort at AIDS prevention.

The clarification did not represent a change in church teaching on birth control, which remains forbidden, but it appeared to be a significant first response to critics who have long seen the church’s ban on condoms as a moral failing in light of the AIDS crisis.

In a book of interviews with Benedict published Tuesday, Benedict said that in some instances, using a condom might be a step toward a “moralization” of sexuality that could help reduce infection, specifying use by a “male prostitute” in the original German of the interview and in the English translation. In referring to homosexual sex, Benedict was citing a case where condoms would not be a form of contraception...

At a news conference on Tuesday, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope had specifically told him on Monday that the issue was not procreation but disease prevention — regardless of the gender of the prostitute.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/world/europe/24pope.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

The Pope's Hat brand featuring

The Tighter Miter for those of less than average girth.

The Lighter Miter for greater sensistivity.

The Gawd Almighty Model for those blessed in abundance,

I understand that the pope communicates with God through prayer.

Having studied the Old Testament, I would prefer a God who can change his mind.

Sorry, the Vatican has already done too much damage with their Iron Age thinking. Just STFU, old man.

:eyes:

When discussing prostitution and appurtenances thereof, apparently there's a lot more wiggle room. So to speak.

I think no one has done that since the 1956 veneration of Mary, and that did not involve condom use.

and such blatant contempt for all other women (most of all, those who wish to become priests, followed by those who do not wish to bear a baby every 10-12 months, followed by nuns who are trying to remedy societal problems which Holy Mother Church refuses to acknowledge at all.)

The Vatican wants to investigate American nuns whose social outreach with the poor goes beyond what the Vatican considers permissible, and Republicans want to investigate climate scientists.

At least Teh Stuopid is not confined to one continent.

A contrast so stark, the view becomes washed and the reality ... left to rot. It is done for self-importance. Is self-importance taken so far, stupid? I suppose.

But, then we're the nation that chooses newscasters by looks and good looks of young Miss American girls by their political views.

day late. dollar short.

nt

Church condemnation of homosexual sex, the use of condoms AT ALL, and sex outside marriage.

IOW: The Pope has just stated that gay sex with condoms has his imprimatur, but that MARRIED HETEROsexuals, because they can reproduce, ARE STILL FORBIDDEN to use condoms.

doctrine to die of AIDS, whereas the church allows men visiting male prostitutes to protect themselves from such a fate.

I think he's not approving gay sex with condoms so much as disapproving of priests dying of AIDS, ackshully.

Basically, they're saying that condom use is technically okay for non-procreative sexual activities that are ALREADY AGAINST CHURCH TEACHINGS. It's about as relevant or as logically consistent as the DEA telling us that certain ways of consuming drugs is safer than others.

agreed that it can be appropriate to use condoms to stem the spread of disease and might be used by prostitutes of either gender.
he has not changed the rules for those catholics who are not prostitutes.