Read the whole interview at NC RegisterWhat is the Pope saying here? Is he saying that in some cases condoms can be permitted?
No, he’s not. I don’t see any change in the Church’s teaching. What he’s commenting on — in fact, he makes the statement very clearly that the Church does not regard the use of condoms as a real or a moral solution — but what he’s talking about in the point he makes about the male prostitute is about a certain conversion process taking place in an individual’s life. He’s simply making the comment that if a person who is given to prostitution at least considers using a condom to prevent giving the disease to another person — even though the effectiveness of this is very questionable — this could be a sign of someone who is having a certain moral awakening. But in no way does it mean that prostitution is morally acceptable, nor does it mean that the use of condoms is morally acceptable. The point the Pope is making is about a certain growth in freedom, an overcoming of an enslavement to a sexual activity that is morally repugnant [unacceptable] so that this concern to use a condom in order not to infect a sexual partner could at least be a sign of some moral awakening in the individual, which one hopes would lead the individual to understand that his activity is a trivialization of human sexuality and needs to be changed.
Cardinal Burke on Pope Condom remarks
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2 comments:
Cardinal Burke's wise interpretation of the Pope's remarks is how I understood what he had said. The resulting brouhaha seems totally misplaced. People hear what they want to hear.
In any event, as the Pope was speaking 'obiter dicta' (the term really applies to judges, but will do here), and not ex cathedra, what he said cannot change Catholic teaching.
If a future, unworthy Pope made a heretical remark to a journalist, would that change Catholic teaching? Certainly not.
This is nice to read. Go Burke, hurrah.
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