Vatican Explains Pope’s Stance on the Use of Condoms

Clarifications were necessary in order to make the words of the Pope Benedict XVI more clearly understood, after he said the use of the condoms could be accepted in order to prevent the spread of HIV.

Vatican insisted that by these allegations the pope did not reform or change the Church’s teaching, but only that he was ready to accept a very limited use of condoms, under restricted circumstances.

The papal spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said that the pope considers that the use of condoms has contained the spread of HIV, but that this is not the only way to contain the disease, alluding of course to the moral education and practice of virtue of moderation.

The statement makes clear that by this the pope does not morally justify the sexual disorderly conduct but merely admits to contribute to protecting life as a “first step on a road to a more human sexuality.”

Benedict took as example for his argument a male prostitute who uses a condom in order to protect his client.

By this argument, he maintained the church’s opposition to artificial contraception, since homosexual relations are not subject to birth control.

Some theologians consider that the statement of the pope, made in a scholarly fashion, does not imply a change in the Roman-Catholic church’s position, let alone in its doctrine.

Still, many Catholics took it to mean a green light to “safe sex,” and the HIV/Aids activists praised the statement as a “significant and positive step forward.”

Even some of the clergy understood the message as a permission for their parishioners to practice “safe sex.”

The Vatican made it clear though, in an Italian version of the statement, that the pope expressed these opinions colloquially, not magisterially, which means he expressed a personal opinion not the official opinion of the Roman-Catholic church.

According to the US academic Janet Smith by these remarks the pope only observes that to some homosexual prostitutes the use of the condoms may awaken a moral sense.

In 2009, the pope said in Africa that the condoms should not be used because they could increase the spread of Aids.

It looks like in the book that is to be published this week on Wednesday the pope maintains his opinion but introduces some nuances, such as the idea that the use of condom alone does not contribute much to the protection against HIV.

The pope advocates moralization and the “humanization of sexuality.”

Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signals of the Times is a book expected to be published this week, and is the first of three interview books in which German journalist Peter Seewald interviews the Pope Benedict XVI.

Excepts from the book were published on November 20, in the Italian newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

The problem of birth control has been one of the most controversial moral issues of the last century and drew a lot of pros and cons as to the Roman Catholic church’s vision of it.

Even though Vatican has followed the path of other religions in opposing birth control techniques, surveys show that the majority of the Catholic population chooses to ignore the papal ruling on the matter.

In America, a survey showed that 90 percent of Catholic women appealed to birth control techniques.

In 1966, a Vatican commission on birth control recommended that opposition be toned down.

Two years later, however, the then Pope Paul VI reinforced the church’s opposition in the encyclical Humanae Vitae. The provisions of this document remained in force to the day.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II issued another encyclical letter, called Evangelium Vitae, by which he ruled against abortion and contraception as “slayers of children God intended to create.”

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI criticized Italian Catholics for not having enough children.