BENEDICT ENDORSES CONDOM USE...FOR MALE PROSTITUTES ONLY - WHAT ARE YOUR COMMENTS?*

 

(above): From Michaelangelo's Last

Judgement fresco in the Sistine Chapel

 

Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book

that condoms can be justified for male

prostitutes seeking to stop the spread of

HIV, a stunning comment for a church

criticized for its opposition to condoms

and for a pontiff who has blamed them

for making the AIDS crisis worse. - AP

 

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Hi Team!

 

*? 2 ALL:

 

POPE BENEDICT

 

ENDORSES CONDOM USE...

 

FOR MALE PROSTITUTES ONLY -

 

 

The Associated Press reports:

"The pope made the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is being released Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts on Saturday.

"Church teaching has long opposed condoms because they are a form of artificial contraception, although it has never released an explicit policy about condoms and HIV. The Vatican has been harshly criticized for its opposition.

"Benedict said that condoms are not a moral solution. But he said in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, they could be justified 'in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.'

"Benedict called it 'a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexuality.'

"He used as an example male prostitutes, for whom contraception is not an issue, as opposed to married couples where one spouse is infected. The Vatican has come under pressure from even some church officials in Africa to condone condom use for monogamous married couples to protect the uninfected spouse from getting infected.

"Benedict drew the wrath of the United Nations, European governments and AIDS activisits when he told reporters en route to Africa in 2009 that the AIDS problem on the continent couldn't be resolved by distributing condoms.

"'On the contrary, it increases the problem,' he said then.

"Journalist Peter Seewald, who interviewed Benedict over the course of six days this summer, raised the Africa condom comments and asked Benedict if it wasn't 'madness' for the Vatican to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.

"'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,' Benedict said."

 

 

Pope Benedict endorses condom use...for male prostitutes only - what are your comments?

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