Post date: Nov 21, 2010 5:12:19 PM
Pope Benedict says condoms are sometimes permissible to stop AIDS, marking an opening in Vatican attitude welcomed by liberal Catholics and AIDS groups.
VATICAN CITY (NOVEMBER 21, 2010) REUTERS - Catholics gathered in St. Peter's Square for mass on Sunday (November 23) welcomed an opening in the Vatican attitude over the use of condoms.
Pope Benedict says in a new book that using condoms may sometimes be justified to stop the spread of AIDS, a major shift that relaxes one of the Vatican's most controversial positions on their use to combat the disease.
Benedict's words in the book to be published on Tuesday (November 23) were limited in scope and do not change the Catholic ban on contraception. Nonetheless, they were greeted as a breakthrough by dissident Catholics, AIDS workers and commentators.
"Well, the change is very significant even though it's subtle because basically the pope is saying that condoms can be used in certain circumstances to stop the transmission of AIDS. Until now the Church has been officially saying that condoms cannot be used under any circumstances. Now here we have for the first time a pope who is saying that there are conditions even though they are very limited when condoms can be used," Philip Pullella, Reuters Vatican correspondent explained.
Pullella said that while the Church moves in very slow terms, he believed the pope's comments would be looked back on as the first breach in allowing condoms under certain circumstances, and as a significant turn around for Benedict.
"Only last year when he was on his way to Africa he made a statement which was very, very controversial on the plane taking him to Cameroon in which he said that the use of, of condoms not only did not stop AIDS but actually could worsen the spread of AIDS. He was highly criticised for that and so now we have something which is completely on the other side and so it's a very, very interesting opening," said Pullella.
In the 219-page book, "Light of the World", the pope also speaks frankly about the possibility that he could resign for health reasons and defends wartime pontiff Pius XII against Jewish accusations that he turned a blind eye to the Holocaust.
But it is the section on condoms in the book -- the work is composed from a long interview with German Catholic journalist Peter Seewald -- that marked a crack in the once tightly shut door of Church policy.
He cites the example of the use of condoms by prostitutes as "a first step towards moralisation", even though condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection".
The original German text and the French and English versions of the book refer to a male prostitute but an excerpt in Italian in the Vatican newspaper uses female prostitute.
While some Roman Catholic leaders have spoken about the limited use of condoms to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS as the lesser of two evils, this is the first time Benedict has mentioned the possibility.
"I have not read it yet, I haven't read it. But if the pope says so and he personally specifies the cases where they can be used, these must be cases that are worth the exception," El Salvador-based bishop Luigi Morao said.
Father Anthony, rollerskating through St. Peter's Square, said the popes had been consistent in adapting to changing societies throughout history, adding that he believed the Vatican was simply taking note of the health and moral issues of a contemporary society.
"I think the teaching of the Holy See is consistent over the last couple of centuries in its respect for each person's conscience and in its respect for different cultures and the exigencies of different times. And today the Church realises that it's not going to control the morals and the standards, the health standards in the world," he said.
Critics have argued that it took many years for the Church to realise that AIDS was not just a disease of the homosexual community and that many heterosexual women, particularly in Africa, were being killed.