Pope Benedict on condoms in "Light of the World"

What appears to have happened in the controversy spawned by media manipulation of material from the Holy Father's new book, before many people have had a chance to read for themselves exactly what he said, is confusion between the law of gradualness in human nature with a supposed "gradualness of the law itself" which, based faith and morals as revealed by God, cannot change. -- ((((..)))) Web exclusive What does the Holy Father really say about condoms in the new book? By Dr. Janet E. Smith This week, Light of the World, a book-length interview given by Pope Benedict XVI to journalist Peter Seewald, will be released worldwide. Several of the Holy Father's statements have already started making news, particularly his comments regarding condom usage in the prevention of the spread of HIV. To the charge that “It is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms,” in the context of an extended answer on the help the Church is giving AIDs victims and the need to fight the banalization of sexuality, Pope Benedict replied: 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. Read the rest of the article by clicking here.