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Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that condoms can be justified for male prostitutes seeking to stop the spread of HIV, a stunning comment for a church criticized for its opposition to condoms and for a pontiff who has blamed them for making the AIDS crisis worse.
The pope made the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times,” which is being released Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts today.
Read more: Pope: Condoms can be justified in some cases | freep.com | Detroit Free Presshttp://www.freep.com/article/20101120/NEWS07/101120025/Pope-Condoms-can-be-justified-in-some-cases#ixzz15vNd0DIH
Sometimes reading the mainstream press can cause shock, and this is one example. They love to hate the Catholic Church and the pope, so any opportunity they can reshape his words or the teachings of the Church they will. Here is what the pope really said:
“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.”
A tab bit different meaning that what the press is letting on to. Dose anyone really think the pope would change church teachings? Come on, the Catholic Church teaches that life is sacred, so why would she ok the use of condoms on male prostitutes? I mean really, next they will be reporting that the pope said abortions are ok, if the mother really don’t want the child. NOT!
The article also states that the Church has not standing on condoms, really….
Contraception is wrong because it’s a deliberate violation of the design God built into the human race, often referred to as “natural law.” The natural law purpose of sex is procreation. The pleasure that sexual intercourse provides is an additional blessing from God, intended to offer the possibility of new life while strengthening the bond of intimacy, respect, and love between husband and wife. The loving environment this bond creates is the perfect setting for nurturing children.
But sexual pleasure within marriage becomes unnatural, and even harmful to the spouses, when it is used in a way that deliberately excludes the basic purpose of sex, which is procreation. God’s gift of the sex act, along with its pleasure and intimacy, must not be abused by deliberately frustrating its natural end—procreation. (Read more here…)Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).
2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:
- Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.
The media, as always got it wrong. The Catholic Church has lots to say about birth control, they just don’t want to hear it, or read it or even know or understand it. So it is much easier to make things up or distort facts. The pope should hold the media responsible for the lies and misdirection’s they give the faithful and the general public, we, as faithful Catholics or any faithful Christian should not allow this persecution to continue, we should write letters to the editors, boycott the newspapers and other media outlets that continue to propagate an anti-Catholic atmosphere, we need to stand up and fight back!
In a day-an-age where information is at our finger tips, there is no reason why they should not know the facts. The only reason they have is they are to lazy to research or they did what they did with the intention of misleading the public. And to tell the truth, I would hope for the first, laziness over misleading. At least with laziness we know that they had not malicious intent. But I am not holding my breath on that one, we have seen way to many examples of the media taking pot-shots at the pope and the Church. They are just down-right malicious, and they don’t care who knows it!
the Holy Catholic Church has survived for over 2000 years, I am sure she will survive this also, but what I am not so sure about is the marginal Catholics or the non-Catholics that will read this and take it as a papal ok to use condoms. Or how many souls will leave the Church based on this article? How many will be lead into sin? The effects of such attacks are not always seen today, but many years from now, for example, look at how long it took for the effects of Vatican II abuses to come to light. How many souls were placed in danger because of misleading the faithful how many left the Church because of abuses and how many entered the Church under false pretenses?
We all need to pray for the pope,, pray that the Holy Spirit continues to use him as an instrument of God, and we need to pray for all the reports such as the one that wrote the misleading article, that they will one day see the light. Until than we all must stand strong and stand tall..
God Bless
Paul
An American Point of View 
Hey Paul, I feel as though you may be guilty of doing the same thing you just criticized in this case. As when i read the full article it did cite the same things you did so as to have some context. I would agree that the headline is misleading and attention grabbing, but further reading yields more complete reporting.
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Hey Steven…
It’s just not the title but also the lead in, and the over all tone. Most people will base there opinion on the first few moments of reading the article. And ever more will just take the headline and run with.
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I can understand that but wouldn’t it be more useful to point how the media is manipulating the readership as opposed to critiquing the content which if read in it’s full context is correct church position? An example would be citing any emotionally-loaded language or phrases that when read a certain tend to lead the reader to the author’s main point or conclusion instead of just stating the facts. I say this because i think the corporate media takes things out of context to promote their own narrative so it’s more useful to point that out and take the high ground.
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well Steven you can write your own blog…. lol… I see what you are saying, but I stand behind what I write.
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