Catholic Church to Ease Ban on Condom Use

[Scurrilous]

One year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican, in a reversal of church doctrine, is prepared to allow the use of condoms to combat AIDS.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1979145,00.html

<snip>

"In a victory for reform-minded critics of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has now reversed the Catholic Church's long-standing position with regard to the use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV virus.

The Vatican's "health minister" Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who is close to the pope, told the Rome-based newspaper La Repubblica "It was the pope who took the initiative over this very sensitive and difficult issue." Barragan, who is Mexican, added that the Vatican is preparing a document on condom use, but declined to reveal its details."

<snip>

"Only last week Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the highly influential former Archbishop of Milan, set a precedent by making a public appeal to at least permit condom use to prevent the transmission of deadly viruses.

"We need to do everything possible to combat AIDS. Under certain conditions, the use of condoms is necessary. Those who are afflicted have an obligation to protect the other partner," he told the Italian weekly newsmagazine L'Espresso. At the same time, he emphasized that this was not a green light for the church to actively start distributing condoms."

[xultar]

1. ...

[napi21]

18. I agree Xultar! I almost fainted too! n/t

[LostinVA]

30. I did faint...

[Jack from Charlotte]

34. All churchs always come around to accepted ideology.....

regardless as to their dogma. When this church burned the Greek library with all the maps of the known world and replaced them with a map that was like Christ on a cross.... they came around and said.... "Never mind, and then pretend it didn't happen. Killed people for saying Sun was in the center of the univers.... Oops. Nevermind again. Said people can't use birth control.... Never mind, again. No Stem Cell reasearch....? they'll change their mind.... but only after causing untold amount of misery on the population.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. If the Church is truly pro-family

they would have to condone condom use for married couples where one spouse has HIV or another STD, so that both parents can stay alive to look after the children.

[Ian David]

17. They won't even condone gluten-free communion wafers for deathly alergic

I don't know how encouraging I should find this.

[SidDithers]

22. You're right...

that host just has to be made from wheat, you know. Screw them Celiacs.

Sid

[Ian David]

24. Being alergic to wheat gulten is a mortal sin

If you truly believe in Jee-zuss... then you'll eat the damn cracker and you won't be struck dead.

[More Than A Feeling]

3. Wow.

Number of people who saw this coming after Benedict's election? Probably zero. I guess this is an "only Nixon could go to China" moment.

Still, it's sad that limited allowances for condoms is progress for the Catholic Church.

[nashville_brook]

8. a lot is being said about how his leadership is turning out different than

expected.

i want the vatican to come clean with the gnostic stuff. help us put that into perspective. help us understand. :P

[LostinVA]

31. Well, except for the really nasty Easter gay bashing

Traditionally, the worst pogroms would be at Easter.... I really hope the current His Holiness doesn't start verbal pogroms as a new Easter tradition.

[nashville_brook]

4. first Judas is a Hero, now this!

holy exclamation point, batman!

[3waygeek]

29. No surprise that

a pope named Benedict would like Judas :evilgrin:

[Virginia Dare]

5. ......

:wow:

[Fierce]

6. Hmmm....

If people didn't listen to the Vatican in the first place, this wouldn't be such a big deal.

Condoms bad! Oh wait! Condoms good! Because I said so! Poof! Ta-da!

[Bridget Burke]

9. Well, some people DO listen to the Vatican.

So this is a big deal. Just a small step, but in the right direction.

[Fierce]

11. I'm aware of that.

I think it's terribly sad that they do.

[calimary]

15. This is a VERY big deal.

I'm stunned. Count me among those who thought this guy just going to be Benny the Backward. This is quite stunning. The fact that they'd be open to ANYTHING AT ALL regarding condom usage is TRULY surprising! Whooda thunkit? Certainly not me.

I think Heaven and Earth, farther up the thread, is spot-on - this may very well indeed be one of those "only Nixon could go to China" moments.

It IS a big deal. It IS a small step, too, but it's also a step in a better, wiser and more compassionate direction. Sonuvagun!

[VegasWolf]

12. Just because the pope is infallible doesn't mean he can't make a

mistake! - Steve Colbert

:devil:

[uppityperson]

7. Wow, that would be very good news.

[truthisfreedom]

10. hey... "Those who are afflicted"??? i'm afflicted. i have this affliction

where i'm fertile... i'm loaded with this near life-form called sperm that can cause unnecessary growth in females.

[JackBeck]

13. The Church is slowly progressing forward. But the writer of the article

needs some serious HIV/AIDS education. The Vatican, most likely, as well.

First off, no one can transmit AIDS. You can only transmit HIV. AIDS is a diagnosis that occurs when one of three things happens and is a diagnosis used for tracking persons whose HIV has progressed and for benefits. There's no such thing as the "AIDS virus". I'm getting really sick of the media using the word AIDS as a scare tactic.

Second, "HIV virus" is a completely redundant phrase. Should we be reading that phrase as "Human Immunodeficiency Virus virus"?

[tenshi816]

50. It's like "PIN number".

"Personal Identification Number Number"

[JVS]

56. or "progressing forward"

;-)

[kurth]

14. So latex wasn't invented by Satan after all

[OhioChick]

16. Wow..............this is a shock

I'm Catholic, but have always lived my life how "I" see fit.

[El Supremo]

19. Too many priests coming down with it, eh?

Fucking hypocrites!

[Zynx]

20. And Benedict continues to confound those who thought it was the Middle

Ages all over again.

[TankLV]

35. It still IS the "middle ages" with a "third reich" flavor. Don't be

fooled by this OND SMALL step.

It's a BIT of "good news" - but only in comparison to all the other crap that this former nazi pushes!

I'll be the first on to GRUDGINGLY say this is a "good thing" - but WAY too small, and WAY too fucking GODdamn LATE for the millions who'e already DIED if it weren't for the church's MIDDLE AGE thinking!

Forgive us all if we're greatly UNDERWHELMED!

[Zynx]

47. The Nazi charge is ridiculous and you know it.

You love throwing that label around because it is TECHNICALLY correct, but it ignores true circumstances.

[TankLV]

55. Ahh - "technically correct" is CORRECT then!

Of course I "love" to "throw this label around - BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!"

He's a NAZI, pure and simple, no matter how his apologists try to slice it!

Nice try, but your BULLSHIT won't stand up to scrutiny.

Out of ALL the possible candidates in the whole GODDAMN church, they had to pick this NAZI?!

THAT is the whole point!

Get over it.

He's a NAZI.

Deal with it.

[JVS]

57. He's as much a Nazi as nobel prize winning writher Guenther Grass

:eyes:

And in case you think that I feel some kind of need to defend him, I really don't. I really dislike seeing the term Nazi cheapened like that.

[Benhurst]

21. Breaking news: they've only been approved for use as

water balloons.

:silly:

[BlueInPhilly]

25. As a Catholic

And I am pleasantly surprised. 3 cheers for B16!!! (Also because the freeps are going to cry over this!)

[KalicoKitty]

23. Now, it they'd just allow priests to marry......

Celibacy was introduced by the Church to ensure that in the event of death any possessions would revert to the Church rather than his family. Celibacy is an unnatural state. How can a priest be expected to advise on the complexities of a normal marital relationship when he himself is utterly ignorant? It is only natural that a priest would want to marry, have a family and experience the love, affection, and fulfillment that marriage can bring. It is high time that the Church recognised and encouraged it. - Adrian Ryan, Ardara, Ireland

[TankLV]

36. Don't forget, it's only the "roman rite" of the catholic church that

insists on this policy. My Ukrainian Catholic priests as well as Greek Catholic priests have always been allowed to be married.

Our current Catholic Priest has two lovely daughters. Our first Catholic Priest had two sons who died in WWII.

And I am talking about "Catholic" not "Orthodox" in case someone wants to mistakengly try that false tactic.

[tenshi816]

51. Celibacy was also introduced

in the early days of the Church because married priests were prohibited from celebrating the Eucharist for a full day after having sex with their wives. As time went on, there was a trend to celebrate the Eucharist more and more often, eventually on a daily basis, so (in theory anyway) priests had to be celibate to fulfill their basic religious functions. I don't imagine their wives were too happy about this development.

[Book Lover]

26. I'm holding onto my cheers until I see the statement

Forgive me, but I need to see what the official statement is before I cheer this apparent movement. Call me a cynical ex-RC if you will...

[PublicWrath]

27. Me, too. I predict that this 'new' stance will be so tortured with

conditions on use that it will amount to very little progress.

[Book Lover]

28. It is possible that will be the final outcome

A statement that is weak will not be useful to those who need the Vatican to speak in order to sway Catholic politicians into condom funding purchase and distribution. A statement that is too strong will create an internal- and external-to-the-Vatican backlash against further reform in this and possibly other areas.

[HockeyMom]

32. I agree too as former Catholic schoolgirl

Sex = procreation. We are only animals without BRAINS whose sole purpose is the BREED.:sarcasm:

[CatholicEdHead]

33. While the final statement will be compicated

and each and every word needs to be read a few times to get the meaning, I expect that Abistanice will not change as the preferred way, but there MAY be and exception but it will be of the "last resort" variety.

That approach is the "ABC" (Abstain-Be faithful-use Condoms)approach that is used in Africa, like in Uganda.

[Gman]

37. This will make fundie heads explode

first bishops say they will break the law to aid illegal aliens if it becomes a felony to do so. Now condoms rather than abstinence... Ka-BOOM!

[PublicWrath]

40. Hmm. Divisions within the ranks. Fundies with exploding heads. Lovely!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

49. and Opus Dei will really go nuts.

which is not a bad thing.

[stevedeshazer]

38. STUNNING news!

I never thought I'd see the day. :wow:

[Stinky The Clown]

39. As a recovered Catholic .....

... this goes in my WhoGivesAShit file.

[DanCa]

41. wow

Maybe they realized that there are medical uses for birth control instead of using bc for just sex.

[tuvor]

42. Obviously, God's been mulling things over, and has changed his mind.

Well, they say that wisdom comes with age.

Welcome to the 21st century, God! :toast:

[Ecumenist]

43. Gee, that's nice of them..

Isn't that sweet? I amswer only to God and most people do as well. It never really mattered what the Vatican said about such personal choices.

[SaveElmer]

44. This is good and all ...but

It says alot about the church that it has finally endorsed, after like 20 years, the most effective way to prevent this disease...really on top of it there!

I guess it beats the 300 years it took them to admit Galileo was right!

[PATRICK]

52. If this is like past "advances"

most of what I see posted here is naively optimistic.

One step forward and ten steps back is the tenor of most new papers on sexual morality. The last time they came out with views promoting dignity in marriage, equality of women, rights and sacred paradigms, they came out against birth control. Then, only the negative terms were remembered and opposed by the majority of Church members. This time there will be so much caution and exceptionalism and probably presumed only for married people to start with, that it will only revisit that failure and antagonism with most married couples. If it is more than a codex to Humanae Vitae which would say, to promote health
and not endanger life it must take that step into the territory of saying that shielded sex without any intent to have children is legitimate. I would find how this dogmatic traditionalist crosses that rigid line to be the most interesting part of the whole deal.

Yet people are talking about the papacy, THIS papacy, lifting the ban on birth control. You haven't seen Vatican conservative verbal gymnastics in action. The theological Kama Sutra of tortured argumentative convolutions is at its best(worst) on these particular issues, but better here than botching social justice pronouncements, because people already have made up their minds and cannot be influenced or threatened by a sensational new encyclical. But I suppose if this tempts them to put negative things about gays into a major document they can manage to alienate a whole other group of Catholics.

[lovuian]

45. well to the mental torture the Pope gave to Aids victims

of violating church doctrine by using condoms now they learn its OK because Pope benedict has figured out more people are dying than being born Catholic... and if its Ok for them why not others...

I can't stand the Catholic Church trying to control sex in their followers... :crazy:

[Canuckistanian]

46. Soo.. yesterday you could go to Hell for it...

... and now it's perfectly fine?

Seems the Catholic Church was against condoms before they for them.

How's THAT for "moral equivalency"?

[Bridget Burke]

48. The Church has lasted as long as it has....

Because it was willing to change. The process continues, however glacially.

Other denominations also change--or go out of business.

[TankLV]

58. Not to mention their "moral clarity" when it comes to being against

GAMBLING - except THEIR OWN BINGO & other gambling enterprises!

Fucking Hypocrits!

And people wonder why we're so "hard" on their awful church!

DUH!

[Cerridwen]

53. So now the neighbors and the church will know who has HIV

since it appears to me, after a brief reading, that condom use is approved in only those cases in which one or the other partner is infected with HIV or an STD. I don't see anything in that article, other than the author's interpretation, that condom use will be approved for the purposes of birth control. Only the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Buy a condom, wind up on the radar for STD and HIV. The new scarlet letter.

Did I get that correct?

[BlueInPhilly]

54. Vatican-approved condoms

I am so going to hell...

[AngryOldDem]

59. Unfortunately, yes, you're correct on one point

That's why many "trads" are fearing that this will open the gates to a relaxation of the prohibition of birth control in general. Maybe if they see that the world will not end if HIV-postive people are allowed to do the right and moral thing by protecting their partners, they'll see that it probably won't end either if people are given the right to make proactive choices about their sexual health and practices.

But, what you buy is no business of the Church's.