That's nice of him.

The Pope drops Catholic ban on condoms in historic shift - Telegraph

Quote:

After decades of fierce opposition to the use of all contraception, the Pontiff has ended the Church’s absolute ban on the use of condoms. He said it was acceptable to use a prophylactic when the sole intention was to “reduce the risk of infection” from Aids. While he restated the Catholic Church’s staunch objections to contraception because it believes that it interferes with the creation of life, he argued that using a condom to preserve life and avoid death could be a responsible act – even outside marriage. Asked whether “the Catholic Church is not fundamentally against the use of condoms,” he replied: “It of course does not see it as a real and moral solution. In certain cases, where the intention is to reduce the risk of infection, it can nevertheless be a first step on the way to another, more humane sexuality.” He stressed that abstinence was the best policy in fighting the disease but in some circumstances it was better for a condom to be used if it protected human life. “There may be justified individual cases, for example when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be … a first bit of responsibility, to redevelop the understanding that not everything is permitted and that one may not do everything one wishes. “But it is not the proper way to deal with the horror of HIV infection.” The announcement is in a book to be published by the Vatican this week based on the first face-to-face interview given by a pope. In the interview, he admits he was stunned by the sex abuse scandal that has engulfed the Catholic Church and raises the possibility of the circumstances under which he would consider resigning. The 83-year-old Pontiff says in passages published exclusively in The Sunday Telegraph today that he is aware his “forces are diminishing”. However, he appears determined to fight for the place of faith in the public domain. His language in attacking the use of recreational drugs in the West and its impact on the rest of the world is particularly striking. He describes drug trafficking as an “evil monster” that stems from the “boredom and the false freedom of the Western world”. Most significant, however, are his comments on condoms, which represent the first official relaxation in the Church’s attitude on the issue after rising calls for the Vatican to adopt a more practical approach to stopping the spread of HIV. The Pope’s ruling is aimed specifically at stopping people infecting their partners, particularly in Africa where the disease is most prevalent. However, it will inevitably be seized upon by liberal Catholics in Britain who oppose the Church’s stance against contraception. High profile Catholics such as Cherie Blair have stated publicly that they use birth control. The Pope’s comments are surprising because he caused controversy last year by suggesting that condom use could actually worsen the problem of Aids in Africa. He described the epidemic in the continent as “a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems”. The Vatican amended an official version of the remarks to indicate that he said merely that condoms “risk” aggravating the problem. However, there have been growing calls for the Church to clarify its position. Theologians suggest that condoms are not a contraceptive if they are intended to prevent death rather than avoid life. The Pope’s comments in the book, Light of the World, are likely to be welcomed by Catholic leaders in the West who have struggled to explain its current teaching. Asked last year whether a married Catholic couple should use condoms where one of them had Aids, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, head of the Church in England and Wales, disclosed the confusion over the issue. “Obviously that’s a sensitive point and obviously there are different views on that,” he said. Hardline Catholics are likely to be surprised and dismayed by the Pope’s comments as they argue that condoms can be used only as contraceptives. There has been great anticipation before the book’s release, heightened by its author, Peter Seewald, who said in a teasing comment that it could be “a big sensation”. “It is the first time that a Pope gives an account of himself in this form,” he said. “It is the first personal interview with a pope in the Church’s history.” The Pope gives his most personal account of the distress caused to him by the clerical sex abuse scandal, with particular reference to Germany and Ireland. He says: “It was really almost like the crater of a volcano, out of which suddenly a tremendous cloud of filth came, darkening and soiling everything, so that above all the priesthood suddenly seemed to be a place of shame and every priest was under the suspicion of being one like that too.” He did not consider resigning over the crisis but does raise the possibility of a pope resigning if he were to lose his mental capacities. “If a Pope clearly realises that he is no longer phys-ically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.” He tells of the last time he saw Pope John Paul II, his predecessor; talks of his reluctance to be Pontiff; and speaks of his increasing frailty. “I had been so sure that this office was not my calling, but that God would now grant me some peace and quiet after strenuous years,” he says. While the Pope stresses the importance of dialogue with Islam, he nevertheless says the religion needs to “clarify … its relation to violence” and suggests it can be intolerant. The Pontiff is highly critical of the “craving for happiness” in the West. “I believe we do not always have an adequate idea of the power of this serpent of drug trafficking and consumption that spans the globe,” he says. “It destroys youth, it destroys families, it leads to violence and endangers the future of entire nations. “This, too, is one of the terrible responsibilities of the West: that it uses drugs and that it thereby creates countries that have to supply it, which in the end exhausts and destroys them.” He continues: “A craving for happiness has developed that cannot content itself with things as they are.” Talking about sex tourism, he says: “The destructive processes at work in that are extraordinary and are born from the arrogance and the boredom and the false freedom of the Western world.”

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Quote:

He stressed that abstinence was the best policy in fighting the disease but in some circumstances it was better for a condom to be used if it protected human life.

Finally! For cryin' out loud, was it so hard? "People ought not to sin. But better being a healthy sinner, capable of repentance than a dead one"...

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Unless otherwise specified, I am posting as a regular poster. When I will act as a mod, I'll make sure you're in no doubt.

It gets better...

Vatican broadens cases for condoms to fight aids
8:18am EST

By Philip Pullella

Vatican broadens cases for condoms to fight aids | Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's landmark acknowledgement that the use of condoms is sometimes morally justifiable to stop AIDS is valid not only for gay male prostitutes but for heterosexuals and transsexuals too, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The clarification, the latest step in what is already seen as a significant shift in the Catholic Church policy, came at a news conference presenting the pope's new book: "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Sign of the Times."

In the book, a long interview with German Catholic journalist Peter Seewald, the pope used the example that a male prostitute would be justified using a condom to avoid transmitting the killer disease.

The clarification was necessary because the German, English and French versions of the book used the male article when referring to a prostitute but the Italian version used the female article.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said he asked the pope directly about it to clarify his thinking.

"I asked the pope personally if there was a serious distinction in the choice of male instead of female and he said 'no'," Lombardi said.

"That is, the point is it (the use of a condom) should be a first step toward responsibility in being aware of the risk of the life of the other person one has relations with," Lombardi said.

"If it is a man, a woman or a transsexual who does it, we are always at the same point, which is the first step in responsibly avoiding passing on a grave risk to the other.

CONDOMS ONCE CALLED "THE BIG LIE"

The church had been saying for decades that condoms were not even part of the solution to fighting AIDS, even though no formal policy on this existed in a Vatican document.

The late cardinal John O'Connor of New York famously branded the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS as "The Big Lie."

In the book, the pope says the use of condoms could be seen as "a first step toward moralization," even though condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection."

After the pope first mentions that the use of condoms could be justified in certain limited cases, the author, Seewald asks: "Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?"

The pope answers: "It of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."

The pope's words and Lombardi's explanation -- while not changing the Catholic ban on contraception -- were nonetheless greeted as a breakthrough by liberal Catholics, AIDS activists and health officials.

"For the first time the use of condoms in special circumstances was endorsed by the Vatican and this is good news and good beginning for us," said Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization.

While some Roman Catholic leaders and theologians 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 the pope has mentioned the possibility.

"It is a marvelous victory for common sense and reason, a major step forward toward recognizing that condom use can play a vital role in reducing the future impact of the HIV pandemic," said Jon O'Brien, head of the U.S. group Catholics for Choice.

"This is a significant and positive step forward taken by the Vatican," said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe. "This move recognizes that responsible sexual behavior and the use of condoms have important roles in HIV prevention."

(Writing by Philip Pullella; additional reporting by Tom Heneghan in Paris; editing by Ralph Boulton)

© Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved.

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"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

Quote:

The clarification was necessary because the German, English and French versions of the book used the male article when referring to a prostitute but the Italian version used the female article.

Hahahaha! Italian machismo strikes again! Even translating sentences about teh gay must be avoided at all cost lest you be tarnished by association...

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Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Wednesday 24 November 2010
Dead condom users begin appeal against eternal damnation
Hell condom users

Dead condom users begin appeal against eternal damnation

After the Catholic Church sought to clarify rules on the use of condoms, suggesting it was probably okay to use them after all, millions of condom-using Hell residents have asked for their cases to be considered for for appeal.

The Church has now suggested that using condoms to prevent infection, rather than pregnancy, could be considered acceptable -though it still advocates the ridiculous ‘not having sex at all’ policy as the best way to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Hell resident Dave Masters told netherworld reporters, “The guy on the door told me it was pretty clear – contraception was a sin, the Pope had continually said it was a sin, and therefore I sinned. I was a sinner. I was going downstairs, end of story.”

“They had lots of video evidence of me using a condom and everything – videos which somewhat ironically I’d have been delighted to watch when I was still alive.”

“I argued the point, obviously, but they said the case was watertight - they see a lot of condom cases apparently – and I was sent down here for eternity.”

“So as you can imagine I’m delighted to see a little clarification of the rules. I might be in the wrong place after all!”
Catholic condom stance

The longest Hell resident incarcerated for condom use is Tom Thatcher, who died shortly after using a condom in 1607.

He told netherworld reporters, “I remember a priest telling me I’d go to Hell if I used it, but I thought he was joking – like they do about that masturbation thing.”

“Let me tell you now they were NOT kidding. As I’m sure you can imagine I’m absolutely livid about being down here for the last four hundred years because the Pope couldn’t spare a few minutes to clarify the rules.”

“Now, if you could just get him to look again at the whole ‘Ox Coveting’ thing, I’ll be good to go.”

__________________
"Patriotism means being loyal to your country all the time and to its government when it deserves it."-- Mark Twain

"Inter arma silent Musae"--when the weapons speak, the muses fall silent.

An't nanum hearm deth, doth hwaet ye willath.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. -Voltaire

Economic Left/Right: -3.88
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.36

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.