Vatican may relax rules on condoms

[spindrifter]

The Times November 23, 2006

Richard Owen, Rome


Pope Benedict XVI is considering concessions over the use of condoms to fight Aids — but the Vatican’s overall ban on condoms will almost certainly remain intact despite the relentless rise in deaths from Aids in Africa, Vatican sources say.

Medical and theological experts advising the Pope have suggested that married couples could be allowed to use condoms when one of the spouses is HIV-positive or a drug user. Vatican watchers said that this would “open a small chink” in the Vatican’s uncompromising opposition to condoms.

There was no question of reversing the basic doctrine laid down in Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical in which Pope Paul VI rejected any relaxation of church rules on birth control. The policy was reiterated by Pope John Paul II and by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then his head of doctrine and now the pontiff.

According to the annual UN report on Aids, released yesterday before World Aids Day on December 1, there are almost 40 million people living with HIV. The most alarming increase was in Uganda, which experienced a rise from a 5.6 per cent infection rate among men and 6.9 per cent among women in 2000 to 6.5 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2466563,00.html

[rosesaylavee]

1. The Vatican sure is hell-bent

on becoming more and more irrelevant aren't they?

[BlueJazz]

2. Boy...I can sure tell I've been watching to much "Star Trek"

I kept reading your post as "Vulcans may relax rules on condoms"

Geez...

[necso]

3. It'd be a mercy to permit the use of condoms

(under any circumstances) to protect against this terrible disease.

But it'd be helpful if this mercy was extended to the spouses of the unfaithful and others at-risk.

Having to wait on using condoms until one's at-risk spouse is diagnosed with HIV is risky.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. 'bout time. but I gotta know, did god change its mind?

I mean how exactly does this work?

[madrchsod]

5. i think god speaks directly to him...or is that bush?

i`m getting old and sometimes i get confused

[Warren Stupidity]

7. well yes I understand the direct link part

but its the 'now the rules are x instead of not-x' part that I don't quite understand. Its the fish on friday no fish on friday conundrum. Does the infallable one fal? Does The Omniscience change its mind? Oh I could go on... I will. So do good Catholics have to confess the condom sin of yesterday, but not today's? I admire people of faith for the effort they must put into it.

[rosesaylavee]

9. Most US Catholics

take these dictums with a grain of salt. Being a former RCer, we were aware that the Pope was concerned about certain things, and his opinion was respected but in my family at least, if it was irrelevant, we just did what we felt was right. Might explain why none of my siblings are practicing Catholics any more! :) But I don't think we were alone in that attitude.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Yeah my dad parted ways with the church during WWII.

And proceeded to raise us atheist/agnostic although he was always a lapsed catholic. I just really never did understand the belief systems of people with faith. I got the social part, that's easy, and I soon realized that most church goers didn't really believe much of anything, and perhaps never really even thought much about it.

[rosesaylavee]

12. I think it is mostly a social thing ...

to leave a church would mean not only admitting to your own personal spiritual change of heart but leaving your social group structure. This can be a very complex issue if everyone in your family has that expectation of you staying and if your 'sin' of not attending is actually reflected back on them if they don't convince you to return. My relatives used to pay to have Novenas said on my behalf in hopes I would return.

I now belong to a Unitarian Universalist church and it fits me to a 't'. We have people of all faiths and beliefs (former or current Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Atheists, Theists, Pagans, etc.), gathering every weekend to share in that community. I think if my folks were alive, they would feel very comfortable joining us there.

And, funny thing is, I feel more of a spiritual bond to this group of people than I ever had growing up Catholic. I will always have that 'lapsed' or 'fallen away' Catholic outlook but I look back on it now as just a step in my personal journey towards how I fit or can fit in with the whole community. Glad I had that upbringing as it gave me certain insights I wouldn't have had otherwise... but very glad I am not there now as this is so very right for me.

The onus of faith as a UU is not on some outside person or entity but on me. I am responsible for my personal spiritual well-being and how I translate that to my work in my community... what I do to make a difference to the humans living around me. My minister, my 'church' is not going to tell me what I 'should' do or think. Having a community to share ideas with and go to for support when I need to is important to me. I am lucky to have such a place.

Sheesh. Sorry for the long post. And, btw, this is not an advertisement for becoming a Unitarian. This is just my path.

[piedmont]

6. the Vatican is damn near useless.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Let me guess- Priests can start using them when molesting kids.

But consenting adults in healthy sexual relationships are still outta luck, right?

[MichiganVote]

10. Wow. Thanks for the lousy crumb. God this church is nuts.....