Is The Pope Catholic? Redux

My Hanukkah gift came early this year with the Pope's announcement that some condom use was morally justified, for example, to prevent the spread of AIDS by male prostitutes. Today, I feel like I spun the dreidel and got gimmel for the jackpot! Benedict XVI outdid himself by further stating that condoms are "the lesser of two evils" when used to curb the spread of AIDS even when their use may prevent pregnancy! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Vatican, in a stunning shift of policy, has put human life before church dogma! What's next? Women priests? Nah, that's way too radical!

The Catholic Church hastened to add that condom use is still considered immoral as is any means of artificial contraception. By making this announcement, however, the Pope is opening up grounds for debate on the issues of condom use, birth control, AIDS, and other urgently significant topics. Lest we liberals don our party hats too soon, George Weigel, a conservative Catholic writer, wanted to make clear that the Vatican was certainly not endorsing condom use as a method of AIDS prevention. Weigel stated, "... someone determined to do something wrong may be showing a glimmer of moral common sense by not doing that wrong thing in the worst possible way — which is not an endorsement of anything." Uh, okay, George.

Whatever the Pope's detractors and George Weigel may say, this is HUGE! The Vatican is now declaring that a form of contraception is more morally acceptable than possibly passing on a potentially lethal virus to another person. Of course, this is just common sense to most of us, but to strict Catholics, this is a seismic shift in their way of thinking. Now, about those women priests....

Is The Pope Catholic?

Is the Pope Catholic? I had to wonder this myself when I heard that Pope Benedict XVI recently stated that some condom use may be morally justified. Jewish girl sez, "WHAAAAT???" It must be my early Hanukkah gift this year that a reasonable statement has emerged from the Vatican! Maybe my liberal, Jewish juju infiltrated the place when I visited Rome this summer!

In a move that has mortified conservative officials at the Vatican and in the Catholic Church, the Pope has declared that condom use may be justified in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as AIDS. He cited the case of male prostitutes as an example of those who may be morally justified in using condoms as a "first step" in living a more moral life. The Pope made no mention of female prostitutes and continued to assert the Church's opposition to artificial means of birth control (some progress is better than none, right?) Some Catholics fear that Benedict has now opened up debate on the issue and that this ruling could lead to other "justified" uses of condoms, to which conservative Catholics strongly object.

I cannot fathom how anyone could possibly object to something that has been shown to prevent a deadly, infectious disease.  If you personally feel that condom use, or any artificial contraception is morally wrong, then abstain from sex. But how can you call yourself a moral person if you would prefer to condemn someone to a preventable death sentence than allow him or her to use the means to prevent it? It heartens me to see that the Pope is beginning to see the gray areas in these moral questions and allow for some real world reasoning to balance out his moral absolutes. There's still a LONG way to go as far as I'm concerned, but I give a big AMEN to Pope Benedict on his latest call. I hope it's just the beginning of the Catholic Church entering the 21st century with moral guidance that real people can actually use in today's world.