Vatican Clarifies Further Pope’s Stance on Condoms
Vatican explained on Tuesday the comments Pope Benedict XVI has made a month ago in a book about the use of condoms.
According to the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine and of the Faith, which issued a statement that says that some commentators have misunderstood the remarks related to the use of condoms the pope had made in the interview book “Light of the World.”
According to the statement made by this moral watchdog organization of Vatican, the assertions of the pope on the condoms does not refer, under any circumstances, to the fact that the Church would condone the use of condoms in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
Vatican has been under pressure from conservative Catholic theologians to clarify this statement since confusion was created about the meaning of the papal words, and concern spread referring to the fact that the pope may break away with the Church teachings.
Benedict XVI had said that the use of condoms can not be considered the best way to protect against HIV, but could be a first step toward a moralization of the person that could actually bring a more responsible sexuality.
The pope stressed that though the use of condoms can be admitted in cases like those of persons that practice prostitution, prostitution itself continues to be a sin and is treated as such by the church.
Excerpt from the interview book were published in the Italian journal L’Osservatore and it is said that it had two translation errors that amplified the confusion.
The first one was the use of the word “justify” in the pope’s comment, and the second was the use of the feminine version of the word “prostitute” as opposed to the masculine, which created confusion, given that the use of condoms in heterosexual relations is viewed as a sin by the Roman Catholic Church.
Vatican said that the pope did not refer to the use of condom in the sexual congress between man and wife, which is a contraception measure unaccepted by the Roman Catholic Church.
Last month the theologians went on to say that the pope did not speak ex cathedra, but merely expressed a personal opinion, which doesn’t mean he altered the doctrine of the church on the subject.11
