Vatican cleric fuels condom row

[emad]

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

A senior Vatican cardinal has joined the growing number of influential Catholic Church figures questioning the official Vatican ban on condom use.

Cardinal Georges Cottier is one of Pope John Paul II's preferred theologians.

So eyebrows were raised this week when he was quoted as saying the use of condoms may be legitimate to stop the spread of Aids in poor countries.

The cardinal said there was moral justification for condom use under certain circumstances to counter Aids.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4226489.stm

[Coastie for Truth]

1. The Rambam endorsed condom use.

The Rambam (Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon a/k/a Maimonides) endorsed condoms seven centuries ago. He is my favorite philosopher.

He's the guy they named the hospitals after- philosopher, theologian, physician.

I do not believe in either Papal infallibility or Rabbinic infallibility.

[emad]

2. From The Guardian

Cardinal says condoms could help to stop Aids

Sophie Arie in Rome
Tuesday February 1, 2005
The Guardian

Snip:

Contraception is officially forbidden by the Catholic church, and the Vatican has argued that condoms are full of "tiny holes" and do not guarantee protection against the transfer of the Aids virus.

Reiterating the church's official line, Cardinal Cottier said condoms should not be used as contraceptives, could encourage immoral sexual conduct and were not the best way to stop the spread of HIV. But the threat of Aids was so immediate that "the use of condoms in some situations can be considered morally legitimate".

"The virus is transmitted during a sexual act; so at the same time as life there is also a risk of transmitting death," he said. "And that is where the commandment 'thou shalt not kill' is valid."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1403083,00.html

[yellowcanine]

3. The head of that pin must be getting awfully crowded with clerics!

Is the Vatican irrelevant or what?