The Pope's recent writings on condom use are sure to clear up nothing.
The Pope's recent writings on condom use are a step sideways in the Church's awkward and dangerous response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In a newly-published book, the former head of the Inquisition writes:
[T]here 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...
Optimists hopefully clung to the Pope's language as an opening; realists, however, dismiss it as dense, obfuscating nonsense designed to side-step the Vatican's complicity in hindering the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The meaning of the Pontiff's oracular proclamation is anyone's guess, but a spokesman (word chosen deliberately) for the Pope's publisher has helped clear the air. Last night,Father Joseph Fessio told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly:
He's not giving a scale of evil or good here. But let me give you a pretty simple example. Let's suppose we've got a bunch of muggers who like to use steel pipes when they mug people. But some muggers say, gosh, you know, we don't need to hurt them that badly to rob them. Let's put foam pads on our pipes. Then we'll just stun them for a while, rob them and go away. So if the pope then said, well, yes, I think that using padded pipes is actually a little step in a moral direction there, that doesn't mean he's justifying using padded pipes to mug people. He's just saying, well, they did something terrible, but while they were doing that, they had a little flicker of conscience there that led them in the right direction. That may grow further, so they stop mugging people completely.
So using a condom to protect yourself or your partner from HIV is like bludgeoning someone, but not quite to death. I think it's perfectly clear where the Church stands on condom use. The Vatican is fond of speaking out on morals. There exists a cheap, simple, safe intervention that is effective in preventing a common and dreadful disease. The Church not only forbids it, but compares it to beating someone almost to death. Who is the sinner?