There's a furor over a quote on condom use from the pope in a new book .....
"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality." (In All Things)
Why does this seem to be a big deal? ... theologians from Karl Rahner to Charles Curran, and even clerics like Bishop Kevin Dowling (see my past post on him), have spoken for contraception use ... it's just that now the pope seems to have changed his mind a little (only in the restricted case of condoms for male prostitutes who have sexual diseases?). But even in this case of using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS: is there a person out there who is HIV positive and who cares about the health of their partner but who won't use a condom because the church says not to; is there a person out there who is HIV positive and who doesn't care about their partner but who will now use a condom because the pope has changed his mind? To me the pope's change of heart seems too little too late, but I suppose this might alter things for the better in Catholic-run health agencies dealing with AIDS victims.
Anyway, this brings me to a blog I've been recently visiting, Women in Theology/WIT. Who knew there'd be others besides me who read both In All Things and Feministing :). I assume they're mostly Catholics because they attend Catholic colleges, but also their latest post points that way too: Pope Benedict Changes His Mind on Condoms? - who but Catholics would expend the energy to discuss the use of condoms against AIDS as the principle of double effect?
You can read more about the book and what the pope said here at Reuters FaithWorld blog - Condoms, Pius XII, sex abuse and other main points in pope book.
