In a bizarre twist of religious logic, Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that condom usage might be OK by, for example, a male prostitute, but not as a general attempt to fight HIV/AIDS. Calling condoms “a first step toward moralization” for prostitutes, the Pope said condoms are “not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection.” Ironically, the Church’s stance on gay marriage has not changed, so, “safe” male prostitution is OK, but marriage equality, not so much…
This shocking statement by Pope, whose Vatican was at the center of a gay male prostitution sex scandal last spring, is being seen by some as a major shift in the Vatican’s approach to human sexuality.
Nevertheless, no one should take this as softening toward any aspect of same-sex relationships. Just months ago, the Pope declared that laws which legalize same-sex marriage “contribute to the weakening of the principles of natural law†and to “confusion about society’s values.â€
Reuters reports, “The pope says that the “sheer fixation on the condom implies a canalization of sexuality” where sexuality is no longer an expression of love “but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves.”
“After the pope first mentions that the use of condoms could be justified in certain limited cases, such as by prostitutes, Seewald asks: “Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?”
“The pope answers: “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 humane way, of living sexuality.”
Last year the Pope, who has been directly ties to abuse scandals in the U.S., cause an international uproar when he said, “You can’t resolve [the AIDS epidemic] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem.â€
H/T to @dantethepoet and @calebeigsti for the parallel…