Pope Benedict says that condoms can be used to stop the spread of HIV

[sharkey360]

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Pope Benedict says that condoms can be used to stop the spread of HIV



In a break with his traditional teaching, Pope Benedict XVI has said the use of condoms is acceptable "in certain cases", in an extended interview to be published this week.

After holding firm during his papacy to the Vatican's blanket ban on the use of contraceptives, Benedict's surprise comments will shock conservatives in the Catholic church while finding favour with senior Vatican figures who are pushing for a new line on the issue as HIV ravages Africa.

The comments were made in a book-length interview with a German journalist, Peter Seewald. In the case of a male prostitute, says Benedict, using a condom to reduce the risk of HIV infection "can be a first step in the direction of moralisation, 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".

Contraception can be "a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality," the pope says.

Excerpts from the book, Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Signs of the Times, were published yesterday by L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper. The pope's comments follow his controversial assertion in 2009 that the rising tide of HIV in Africa could be made worse, not better, by the distribution of condoms. He was speaking to journalists as he visited Africa, where the majority of HIV fatalities occur.

At the time, Aids campaigners and European governments expressed outrage. Belgium's health minister said the pope's comments "could demolish years of prevention and education and endanger many human lives".

Francis X Rocca, a Vatican expert and correspondent for Religion News Service, said: "This new statement by the pope is very significant, it is going to shake things up. Even if high-ranking church figures and theologians have come out and said this, it remains a controversial subject and no pope has ever said something like this."

Christina Odone, another leading Catholic journalist and commentator in the UK, described the Pope's comments as a "hugely important moment" which Catholics had spent decades waiting for. "It allows Catholics, when we defend our church, to be able to say that this is a not a church that condemns people to Aids and that this is not a church that wilfully ignores the consequences of having unprotected ***," she said.

Peter Stanford, former editor of the Catholic Herald, described the pope's comments as "very significant. It's a very welcome step if they are facing up to the real issues faced by real people."

Insiders said that word of Benedict's comment spread like "wildfire" at the Vatican yesterday, where he was appointing new cardinals. One said: "People were confused but also excited."

In 2006, the Pontifical Council for the Health Care Pastoral, led by Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, was asked by Benedict to report on the use of condoms as a way of combating HIV.

"The pope is saying that if you can prevent disease, the use of condoms could be permissible," said John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. "But this has been in the mix for a while," he argued. "I think Benedict has been thinking this way since 2006, which is why he asked for the commission to look into it.

"The problem was not Benedict, it was others in the Vatican who argued that if you said using condoms was OK in certain situations, it would send out the message that they were approved. This was a PR problem."

Pope Benedict says that condoms can be used to stop the spread of HIV | World news | The Observer

[sharkey360]

Another report

Pope says some condom use 'first step' of morality

Pope Benedict XVI has opened the door on the previously taboo subject of condoms as a way to fight HIV, saying male prostitutes who use condoms may be beginning to act responsibly. It's a stunning comment for a pontiff who has blamed condoms for making the AIDS crisis worse.

The pope made the comments in an interview with a German journalist published as a book entitled "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is being released Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano ran excerpts on Saturday.

Church teaching has long opposed condoms because they are a form of artificial contraception, although the Vatican has never released an explicit policy about condoms and HIV. The Vatican has been harshly criticized for its position.

Benedict said that condoms are not a moral solution to stopping AIDS. But he said in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, their use could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection."

Benedict made the comment in response to a general question about Africa, where heterosexual HIV spread is rampant.

He used as a specific example male prostitutes, for whom contraception is not usually an issue, but did not mention married couples where one spouse is infected. The Vatican has come under pressure from even church officials to condone condom use for such monogamous married couples to protect the uninfected spouse from transmission.

Benedict drew the wrath of the United Nations, European governments and AIDS activists when, en route to Africa in 2009, he told reporters that the AIDS problem on the continent couldn't be resolved by distributing condoms. "On the contrary, it increases the problem," he said then.

Journalist Peter Seewald, who interviewed Benedict over the course of six days this summer, raised the Africa condom comments, asking him if it wasn't "madness" for the Vatican to forbid a high-risk population from using condoms.

"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility," Benedict said.

Asked if that meant that the church wasn't opposed in principle to condoms, the pope replied:

The church "of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but in this or that case, there can be nonetheless in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality," according to an English translation of the book obtained by The Associated Press.

Elsewhere in the book he reaffirmed church teaching opposing artificial contraception.

"How many children are killed who might one day have been geniuses, who could have given humanity something new, who could have given us a new Mozart or some new technical discovery?" he asked rhetorically.

He reiterated the church's position that abstinence and marital fidelity is the only sure way to prevent HIV.

The English publisher of the book, Rev. Joseph Fessio, said the pope was not justifying condom use as a lesser of two evils.

"This is not a justification," he said. Rather, "The intention of protecting the other from disease, of using a condom, may be a sign of an awakening moral responsibility."

However, the Rev. Jim Martin, a Catholic writer, said the comments were certainly a departure, an exception where there had never been an exception before.

"While some bishops and archbishops have spoken in this way, the pope has never affirmed this," Martin said. "And it's interesting that he uses as an example someone who is trying to act morally to someone else by not passing on an infection, which was always the stance of those people who favored condoms in cases of HIV and AIDS. So it does mark a departure."

The English translation of the original German specified "male prostitute." The Italian translation in L'Osservatore Romano, however, used the feminine "prostitute." The discrepancy wasn't immediately clear.

Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, the Vatican's longtime top official on bioethics and sexuality, elaborated on the pontiff's comments, stressing that it was imperative to "make certain that this is the only way to save a life." Sgreccia told the Italian news agency ANSA that that is why the pope on the condom issue "dealt with it in the realm of the exceptional."

The condom question was one that "needed an answer for a long time," Sgreccia said. "If Benedict XVI raised the question of exceptions, this exception must be accepted ... and it must be verified that this is the only way to save life. This must be demonstrated," Sgreccia said.

In the 1960s, the Vatican itself condoned giving contraceptive pills to nuns at risk of rape by fighters in the Congo to prevent pregnancy, arguing that the contraception was a lesser evil than pregnancy.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans said clearly the pope wasn't encouraging condom use.

"I think the pope has been very strong in saying condoms do not solve the problem of morality and do not solve the problem of good *** education. But if a person chooses not to follow the teaching of Christ in the church, they are at least obliged to prevent another person from contracting a disease that is deadly," he said.

In Africa, Benedict's comments drew praise among gays and AIDS activists.

"If he's talking about condoms, it's a step in the right direction," said David Kamau, who heads the nonprofit Kenya Treatment Access Movement. "It's accepting the reality on the ground ... If the Church has failed to get people to follow its moral values and practice abstinence, they should take the next best step and encourage condom use."

John Kitte, a gay Ugandan, said the pope was acting as a good parent.

"He minds about all the people living on earth. What he has suggested is very good and I encourage gays to take his advice seriously."

But an evangelist pastor in the Uganda capital of Kampala, Solomon Male, argued the pope shouldn't be granting any recognition of or encouragement to gays.

"If the Pope is saying so, then he has not read the Bible," he said. "Gay acts are bad. It is abominable and should not take place."

Christian Weisner, of the pro-reform group We Are Church in the pope's native Germany, said the pope's comments were "surprising, and if that's the case one can be happy about the pope's ability to learn."

In other comments in the book, Benedict said:

• If a pope is no longer physically, psychologically or spiritually capable of doing his job, then he has the "right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign."

_He was surprised by the scale of clerical *** abuse, particularly in his native Germany, and acknowledged that the Vatican could have better communicated its response. "One can always wonder whether the pope should not speak more often."

• On Islam in Europe, he declined to endorse such moves as France's banning the burqa or Switzerland's citizen referendum to forbid topping mosques with minarets.

"Christians are tolerant, and in that respect they also allow others to have their self-image," Benedict replied when asked if Christians should be "glad" about such initiatives. "As for the burqa, I can see no reason for a general ban."

• On Pope Pius XII, the wartime pontiff accused by some Jewish groups of staying publicly silent on the Holocaust: Some historians have asked the Vatican to put Pius' sainthood process on hold until the Holy See opens up its archives from his papacy. But Benedict said an internal "inspection" of those unpublished documents failed to support "negative" allegations against Pius.

"It is perfectly clear that as soon as he protested publicly, the Germans would have ceased to respect" Vatican extraterritoriality of convents and monasteries who were sheltering Jews from the Nazi occupiers in Rome. "The thousands who had found a safe haven ... would have been surely deported," Benedict argued.

In the book, Benedict also offers insights into his private life, saying he enjoys watching TV at home in the evenings with his secretaries and the four women who take care of his apartment, preferring the news and an Italian TV show from decades ago "Don Camillo and Peppone" about a parish priest and his bumbling assistant.

He said he always wears his white cassock, never a sweater, and wears an old Junghans watch that was left to him by his sister when she died. When he prays, he said, he prays to the Lord as well as the saints and considers himself good friends with Sts. Augustine, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas.

In the book, he comes across as open, charming and funny — and deeply concerned about his church, its people and their future.

He reflects on the legacy of the landmark 1968 encyclical, "Humanae vitae," where Pope Paul VI laid out the church's opposition to artificial contraception. Decades later, "the basic lines of `Humanae vitae' are still correct."

Still, the pope said, sexual ethics today pose a huge question. "It is correct there is much in this area that needs to be pondered and expressed in new ways."

He championed the church's advocacy of the so-called "rhythm method," by which a married couple who don't want to conceive avoid intercourse on days when the woman is likely to be fertile, saying that is "not just a method but a way of life."

"And that is something fundamentally different from when I take the pill without binding myself interiorly to another person, so that I can jump into bed with a random acquaintance," Benedict said.

Pope says some condom use 'first step' of morality - Yahoo! News

[cebulifer]

what will the pinoy catholics think of this?

[sharkey360]

What the Pope Really Said About Condoms

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." Benedict seems to imply a scale of good and bad intentions — from the indiscriminate use of condoms and other contraceptives to the idea of preventing the spread of AIDS to following the teachings of the Catholic Church. Condoms are not the ultimate solution or the prescribed Catholic way, he reiterates, though Benedict allows that there is little the church can do to prevent anyone from acquiring condoms. Still, he insists that "the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality... the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love."

Benedict's statement about condoms is part of Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Sign of the Times, Seewald's far-ranging six-hour interview to be published by Ignatius Press. The Pope supplies often frank and personal responses. Indeed, Benedict admits that he was "provoked" by a reporter's question during a 2009 press conference that called the Catholic Church's approach to AIDS "unrealistic and ineffective." He responded to the question by defending the enormous amount of work done by religious organizations worldwide in treating "AIDS victims, especially children with AIDS." "The Church does more than anyone else," he told Seewald. "And I stand by that claim."

Read more: What the Pope Really Said About Condoms - TIME

[vipvip68]

it's about time the Catholic Church updates its teachings... this is surprising considering many people thought Pope Benedict XVI is very traditional.

[Muerte]

mao ba? lahi man ang sulti sa catholic church dinhi sa pilipinas. check these out.

Anti-RH Lies About The RH Bill | Filipino Freethinkers
Anti-RH Bill Catholics Harass RH Bill Supporters | Filipino Freethinkers

[AmorsoloX]

hmmm.. im very skeptical as to the motives of the pope.. did he really gave in to popular pressure?...

though, its good thing that he has an open mind..

i guess the fanatical-anti-RH-people here will start calling him the anti-christ anytime soon..

[sharkey360]

Expect lots of violent reactions, dismissals and other forms of expression that will interpret the news.

We can also expect more prayer rallies locally, not to mention rants from the local moralists, evangelists and conservatives.

[AmorsoloX]

mao ba? lahi man ang sulti sa catholic church dinhi sa pilipinas. check these out.

Anti-RH Lies About The RH Bill | Filipino Freethinkers
Anti-RH Bill Catholics Harass RH Bill Supporters | Filipino Freethinkers

lain man gud ang catholic church dire sa atoa.. kusog kaau manghilabot sa affairs of the state.. to the point of dessiminating false info..

dapat dakpon ni sila kay truthless man ni ila gi pang yaw2x.. ebidensya na mismo ila hand-outs.

[dmelsie]

Expect lots of violent reactions, dismissals and other forms of expression that will interpret the news.

We can also expect more prayer rallies locally, not to mention rants from the local moralists, evangelists and conservatives.

bunch of hypocrites