Pope Benedict on The Use of Condoms ; Book Excerpt ; UPDATED

While the party for the new cardinals goes on in the Vatican the main newspapers are debating the exact meaning of the Pope's latest views on condom use and it is difficult to keep apace of the interpretations. No doubt more clarifications will follow.

Does it all hinge on the exact meaning of the words "male prostitute" or is there a more nuanced meaning in Catholic moral theology that we are not getting? 

The transcript of the interview can be read here

I have noticed that Deacon Greg is updating his site with useful summaries from time to time and can be accessed from here . 

There is some overlap with links from my post due to the heavy and traffic on this news item but I hope that between us we cover a wide and fair variety of reports that do justice to the topic.


Incidentally, as I was updating this post this Catholic quotation appeared in my inbox : timely or what ?? 

"We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierarchy of the Church so decides."
- St. Ignatius of Loyola

Useful article here from a Franciscan blog titled Dating God

 Enlightened Catholicism has an interesting take on it here 

and the author Colleen posits  "this actually places the relative worth of women vis a vis their reproductive organs at a new low point in Catholic moral theology

this article from Free Republic is useful as is this one from the NCR

If the BBC are correct, the words are clear : Only MALE PROSTITUTES can use condoms !! 

In all other language  translations apart from Italian, the Pope clearly gave a specific single justified  example citing  the male prostitute.

The English translation of the original German specified "male prostitute." The Italian translation in L'Osservatore Romano, however, used the feminine "prostitute." as there is no male equivalent noun. The discrepancy lacks clarity.

Astonishing. 

Yet another confirmation that women  are considered pond life by The Vatican ?

"What about female prostitutes? 

What about the spouses of people whose husbands and wives may be using prostitutes?" 

What about heterosexual males and females ?

The Catholic and Loving It Blog goes overboard in its attempt to explain with some frankly weird analogies involving cars, space ships and carpets:( presumably not the flying carpet type). Read on to get the gist of it..... 


( I can't imagine what kind of sex education this person must have had.)

"The Pope said that THE CHURCH DOES NOT REGARD CONDOMS AS A MORAL SOLUTION. It's right there in the BBC article. Sheesh guys - learn to read!

So what does he say? He says that if your intention is to reduce the risk of infection then that can be a first step in a movement towards a more human way of living sexuality.

It is as if the Pope said "beating your wife is never okay but if you decide to beat your wife less often then you are moving in the right direction" and the headline comes back "Pope condones wife beating".

Suprise, suprise. Austen Ivereigh is then on hand with a misleasing quote to suggest that the Pope intended to support the view that "If the intention is to prevent transmission of the virus, rather than prevent contraception, moral theologians would say that was of a different moral order."

If by "different moral order" you mean not regarded "as a real or moral solution" then fair enough, yes. 

Just like my car is not a space ship but it is more like a space ship than a piece of old carpet so it must just be a different order of space ship."


Really ???  Does that make everything clear now ?!

There is a veritable flood of reports and commentaries on this so here is a selection :

Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish from here

• Condoms acceptable in certain cases: Pope - Sydney Morning Herald (news.google.com)
• Pope says some condom use 'first step' of morality (thehimalayantimes.com)
• Pope says condoms OK for male prostitutes (americablog.com)
• You: Pope says male prostitutes using condoms justifiable to halt spread of HIV (washingtonpost.com)
• You: Pope says condom use is acceptable in 'single justified cases' (latimes.com)

Finally a piece of music that suits the day in a crazy sort of way !!