Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
In a new book based on interviews between the pope and German writer Peter Seewald, a former communist-turned-Catholic, Pope Benedict XVI softens one of the Vatican's most traditional and most controversially-held positions--the absolute ban on artificial contraceptives. In the book, called Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times, set to be released this week, the pope says that there are certain cases in which condom use is not universally prohibited.
The AP reports (h/t The Anchoress):
Until now, the Vatican had prohibited the use of any form of contraception -- other than abstinence -- even as a guard against sexually transmitted disease.
Benedict sparked international outcry in March 2009 on a visit to AIDS-ravaged Africa when he told reporters the disease was a tragedy "that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems."
To illustrate his apparent shift in position, Benedict offered the example of a male prostitute using a condom.
"There may be justified individual cases, for example when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be ... a first bit of responsibility, to re-develop the understanding that not everything is permitted and that one may not do everything one wishes," Benedict was quoted as saying.
"But it is not the proper way to deal with the horror of HIV infection."
Benedict reiterated that condom use alone would not solve the problem of HIV/AIDS. "More must happen," he said.
"Becoming simply fixated on the issue of condoms makes sexuality more banal and exactly this is the reason why so many people no longer find sexuality to be an expression of their love, but a type of self-administered drug."
Below is an excerpt from the actual book/interview with Pope Benedict. The pope is speaking here:
As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself. More needs to happen. Meanwhile, the secular realm itself has developed the so-called ABC Theory: Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom, where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work. This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.
There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.
Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?
She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.
I don't think the pope is opening the floodgates, taking a step toward totally reversing the Catholic Church's position on birth control, as some think. Pope Benedict's principle seems to be this: condom use is permissible if it's meant to save a life, not obstruct the creation of one. That strikes me as sound. What do the other Catholics in the house think?
Here's Politics Daily's religion reporter, David Gibson, on the matter:
Many reports portrayed the pope's statements as a stunning reversal for the church, although Benedict was actually articulating longstanding Catholic tradition on the morality of preventing HIV and was not approving condoms for birth control. But his remarks were important for the extent of their explanation of this complex matter -- and because they come from the pope, which makes them more authoritative than other church proclamations.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
Isn't this the Pope just acknowledging that using a condom is not always the worst possible choice?
Sep '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
Here we go again. No, he didn't change anything:
An analogy: If someone was going to rob a bank and was determined to use a gun, it would better for that person to use a gun that had no bullets in it. It would reduce the likelihood of fatal injuries. But it is not the task of the Church to instruct potential bank robbers how to rob banks more safely and certainly not the task of the Church to support programs of providing potential bank robbers with guns that could not use bullets. Nonetheless, the intent of a bank robber to rob a bank in a way that is safer for the employees and customers of the bank may indicate an element of moral responsibility that could be a step towards eventual understanding of the immorality of bank robbing.
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 9:19amMay '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
Pseud has it entirely right. There is no indication that the Pope has changed Church teaching an iota-only that he has thrown further light on it, or clarified an aspect that have been widely misunderstood.
To deliberately stifle the life-giving power of human sexuality is destructive and immoral.
Nor does the mass production and distribution of condoms even begin to solve such society-wide moral and health crises as unwed pregnancy and STDs.
The Pope not only didn't change these basic teachings, he explicitly reaffirmed them.
It is not impossible, though, to imagine a moral scenario in which the use of a condom is not a contraceptive act, but an act of concern for the well-being of another person. In such a case, it may represent the beginning of moral seriousness--hope for a turnaround.
This goes to show the Pope is a deeply thoughtful, deeply engaged pastor, not the knee-jerk authoritarian liberals and moral relativists imagine him to be.
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 9:40amRe: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
As Katievs says, Psued gets it exactly right. The Pope changed nothing about Church teaching. Nada, zip, zero. And I like Pseud's bank robber analogy. (Since I've been reading a lot of Russian history lately, my own mind went to Peter the Great. Putting down one uprising or another, Peter personally interrogated a number of prisoners, promising them instant death instead of slow torture if they told him what he wanted to know. Instant death? Did that represent a good in itself? Of course not. It merely represented the lesser of two evils.)
Oct '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
George Weigel has done a great job of doing the work that the media won't. The upshot is that, no, nothing has changed.
I wonder how often Mr Robinson finds a chance to make Peter the Great relevant to a Ricochet discussion...
;)
Jun '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
But if we lift our eyes to the Cross, and pursue purity of heart through self-denial, STDs, abortion and contraceptives become irrelevant.
Yes, we all fall, but "Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times...rise up again each time, and keep on doing this until the day of your death." (St. John of Karpathos)
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 10:48amSep '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
I should have been clearer that the analogy is from the link, which is written by CWR and the analogy by Dr Janet Smith, a philosophy prof who was, irony of ironies, denied tenure at Notre Dame for defending the Church's position on sexual ethics.
All snark is 100% my own.
Sep '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
And remember, its the Pope who is obsessed with sex, not the media reporting on the Great Pelvic Imperative.
May '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
What were you doing in the Reagan White House? :P
May '10
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
In other words, we're not even talking about contraceptives, and the pope still hasn't softened doctrine. That's some headline.
Somehow, in the popular consciousness, the Church's highly developed, highly refined understanding of the morality and purposes of human sexuality have been reduced to a single position: "Condoms are evil", which is ridiculous on its face. (A mass-produced extrusion of rubber, actually evil? That silly pope!)
But obviously there is more going on here. As the pope says (within this very same article!): "This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves." That's the takeaway.
Re: Pope Softens Church Doctrine on Contraceptives
Exactly.