Vatican accepts condoms for HIV prevention.

[Goat]

Considering on just how conservative the Roman Catholic Church is, the recent statements from the Pope about HIV infection and condom use is very surprising to me.

The RCC will accept condoms for the prevention of disease (not contraception). This is a major change from the rather restrictive and inflexible statements that came before.

I am encouraged by this change, where people's lives are finally starting to mean more than unreasoning dogma, and perhaps some of the Christian principles are being applied to modern life, rather than being stuck in the 18th century.

Why do you think the penny finally dropped?

News article here

[Lux]

Good call, Vatican. Kudos!

I don't know where that decision came from, I suppose the number of cases of people with AIDS became so huge that they decided it was time to reevaluate their position.

[McCulloch]

It took them less time to acknowledge the obvious this time than in the case of Galileo. Is this a sign of progress?

[Goat]

It took them less time to acknowledge the obvious this time than in the case of Galileo. Is this a sign of progress?

I can only hope.

Perhaps it is also a reaction to the fact they knew they mishandled a number of issues, and want to start 'getting on the right side' of history.

There are still many things that I feel the RCC is very much out of touch with, and many things I feel they are handling things wrong, from a moral and from a publicity point of view.

This is a pretty radical shift on the mind set of the Vatican. This is a particularly surprising development to me, since this pope is much more conservative and hide bound than the previous pope, who also was very conservative and hide bound, but has a larger sense of compassion and understanding than Benedict had previously demonstrated.

I do not know what the future might bring.. but this was an interesting development.

[cnorman18]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned this (from the link):

The pope's comments in the book implied that he was referring primarily to homosexual sex, when condoms aren't being used as a form of contraception. Questions arose immediately about the pope's intent, though, because the Italian translation of the book used the feminine for prostitute, whereas the original German used the masculine.

Lombardi told reporters Tuesday that he asked the pope whether he intended to refer only to male prostitutes. Benedict replied that it really didn't matter, the important thing was the person in question took into consideration the life of the other, Lombardi said.

"I personally asked the pope if there was a serious, important problem in the choice of the masculine over the feminine," Lombardi said. "He told me 'no.' The problem is this ... It's the first step of taking responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk of the life of another with whom you have a relationship."

"This is if you're a man, a woman, or a transsexual. We're at the same point. The point is it's a first step of taking responsibility, of avoiding passing a grave risk onto another," Lombardi said.

The clarification is significant.

Significant indeed, I'd say.

Now, predictable gibes about protecting pedophile priests aside, isn't this even MORE of a sea change in Vatican policy?

[Goat]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned this (from the link):

The pope's comments in the book implied that he was referring primarily to homosexual sex, when condoms aren't being used as a form of contraception. Questions arose immediately about the pope's intent, though, because the Italian translation of the book used the feminine for prostitute, whereas the original German used the masculine.

Lombardi told reporters Tuesday that he asked the pope whether he intended to refer only to male prostitutes. Benedict replied that it really didn't matter, the important thing was the person in question took into consideration the life of the other, Lombardi said.

"I personally asked the pope if there was a serious, important problem in the choice of the masculine over the feminine," Lombardi said. "He told me 'no.' The problem is this ... It's the first step of taking responsibility, of taking into consideration the risk of the life of another with whom you have a relationship."

"This is if you're a man, a woman, or a transsexual. We're at the same point. The point is it's a first step of taking responsibility, of avoiding passing a grave risk onto another," Lombardi said.

The clarification is significant.

Significant indeed, I'd say.

Now, predictable gibes about protecting pedophile priests aside, isn't this even MORE of a sea change in Vatican policy?

It could be that part of this was learning about what they did wrong with the protecting of the pedophile priests.

I feel the much more liberal attitude of the Vatican when it comes to the Jews is a realization of what they did wrong in WW2. I think the change of heart when it comes to condoms is the realization of the power of public opinion from the scandals, and the fact they had to learn to listen to the reasons people are giving them criticism.

If you notice, the rational for finally accepting them is a basic Roman Catholic value.. the importance of the principle of preserving life. Before there was the principle that 'it must be proper behavior' and 'natural'

[sarabellum]

personally this seems like a more rational stance than the prior administrations....
catholicism wow!
(buddy jesus on sale in the lobby)

[arunangelo]

Considering on just how conservative the Roman Catholic Church is, the recent statements from the Pope about HIV infection and condom use is very surprising to me.

The RCC will accept condoms for the prevention of disease (not contraception). This is a major change from the rather restrictive and inflexible statements that came before.

I am encouraged by this change, where people's lives are finally starting to mean more than unreasoning dogma, and perhaps some of the Christian principles are being applied to modern life, rather than being stuck in the 18th century.

Why do you think the penny finally dropped?

News article here

Vatican nerver accepted condom for HIV prevention. In fact The Pope stated that condom for prevention of HIV is never a real or moral solution. He however, acknowledged that, if for example a male prostitute used condom to avoid infecting others, it showed some early signs, that, he was leaning towards some moral responsibility though the act it self is immoral.

[flitzerbiest]

It took them less time to acknowledge the obvious this time than in the case of Galileo. Is this a sign of progress?

Sure. This time they're only a generation too late. Beats a few centuries.