Well, maybe not totally cool and still slightly frowned upon, but the Vatican agrees it’s definitely better than giving somebody HIV.
The Vatican announced Tuesday it’s okay to use condoms, but ONLY for preventing HIV, so don’t even think about using them as birth control!
It’s true that the Catholic Church has been clear in it’s stance against condoms in the past, citing it as a method of birth control, but in light of recent times and the AIDs epidemic in Africa, the Vatican released a statement claiming condom use as a lesser of two evils.
Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit writer and editor, breaks down Pope Benedict XVI‘s comments for the world like this:
“Contraception is not the worst evil…abortion is far worse. Passing on HIV is criminal. That is absolute irresponsibility.”
The new position acknowledges that the church’s long-held anti-birth control stance against condoms doesn’t justify putting lives at risk.
Umm…duh!
However, there was some confusion in regards to the Pope’s comments on condom use.
In a book Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times Benedict was quoted as saying that condom use by people such as male prostitutes indicated they were moving toward a more moral and responsible sexuality by aiming to protect their partner from a deadly infection, implying he was strictly talking about homosexual sex when condoms were not being used as a contraception.
Technicalities arose immediately about the Pope’s intent because the Italian translation of the book used the feminine for prostitute, whereas the original German used the masculine.
A Vatican spokesman than clarified after consulting with Benedict that it really didn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman, the important thing was that the person took into consideration the life of another.
Thank God!
We totally support freedom of religion and sexuality, but please, wear a condom!
[Image via AP Images.]
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