VATICAN CITY, ROME—Pope Benedict XVI announced today that the Roman Catholic Church will allow condom use for Protestants. The announcement is the second significant policy change on the issue of birth control by the Vatican since 2010’s announcement that, in some cases, condom use could be allowed for those at risk from AIDS.
“Equally, those at risk from Protestantism, especially the kind as practiced by American evangelicals, might need to have the protection afforded by condoms,” Pope Benedict stated. “No child should be born into this world to the likes of a Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann.”
Vatican spokesperson, Father Federico Lombardi, clarified the Pope’s statement in a follow-up interview with a foreign correspondent from The Smew. “What His Holiness is saying, as he did last year, is that certain marginalized groups on the outside of society, like male prostitutes, IV drug users, and Methodists, could use condoms as the first step towards ethical moralization, a first assumption of responsibility for their sins.”
Protestant affiliations' reactions to the Vatican announcement were mostly subdued. Archbishop Rowan Williams, the leader of the Anglican Communion, released a statement that said in part: “We take the Pope’s announcement to be in the spirit of reconciliation between our two faiths, and for our part would like to invite our Catholic brothers and sisters to enter the 20th century, if not the 21st.”
Cross Posted at The Smew