[Irenikon] A bit closer to the facts?

In Rare Cases, Pope Justifies Use of Condoms

By RACHEL DONADIO and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: November 20, 2010

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI has said that condom use can be justified in some cases to help stop the spread of AIDS, the Vatican’s first exception to a long-held policy banning contraceptives. The pope made the statement in interviews on a host of contentious issues with a German journalist, part of an unusual effort to address some of the harshest criticisms of his turbulent papacy.

The pope’s statement on condoms was extremely limited: he did not approve their use or suggest that the Roman Catholic Church was beginning to back away from its prohibition of birth control. In fact, the one example he cited as a possibly appropriate use was by male prostitutes.

Still, the statement was something of a milestone for the church and a significant change for Benedict, who faced intense criticism last year when, en route to AIDS-plagued Africa, he said condom use did not help prevent the spread of AIDS, only abstinence and fidelity did.

The interviews are to be published this week in a book, and excerpts were posted online by the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on Saturday afternoon.

In the book, Benedict said condoms were not “a real or moral solution” to the AIDS epidemic, adding, “that can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.” But he also said that “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.”

The decision to grant the interviews was a rare effort to humanize a pope often seen as a distant intellectual whose papacy has lurched from crisis to crisis, including revelations worldwide last spring that called into question the Vatican’s handling of cases of child abuse by priests.

Although Benedict, 83, took pains to explain his most controversial decisions, he did not veer from them. That included his defense of Pope Pius XII, whose tenure during World War II has been criticized by Jewish groups who say he could have done more to help Jews escape the Nazis.

Benedict also suggested several times that he was a victim of overly zealous critics, including those who criticized him for revoking the excommunication of a bishop who denied the scope of the Holocaust.

The pope did, however, acknowledge the church’s failings during the years that children were being abused. “The deeds themselves were hushed up and kept secret for decades,” he said. “That is a declaration of bankruptcy for an institution that has love written on its banner.”

The book, “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times,” comes from a series of interviews conducted in July by Peter Seewald, a German journalist and the author of two previous books of interviews with Benedict when he was still a cardinal. The New York Times saw an early copy of the English version of the book.

Benedict’s concession on condoms, however slight, may have left room for debate on the issue of whether they may be used as part of campaigns against AIDS.

The use of condoms has been a contentious issue ever since Pope Paul VI denounced birth control in his famous 1968 encyclical, “Humanae Vitae.”

In recent years, bishops in Africa and elsewhere have been calling on the Vatican to allow for condom use as part of a broader approach to fight the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. At a news conference at the Vatican last year, Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson of Ghana suggested, for instance, that condom use was worth considering for married couples in which one partner is H.I.V.-positive.

The Vatican has also faced pushback at some church-run health clinics in Africa, according to experts who say health care workers often ignore the teachings and distribute condoms.

Although the pope’s statements did not go nearly as far as some church leaders in Africa might like, the Rev. James Martin, who has written about the Vatican’s stance on the issue in “America,” a Jesuit publication in New York, said even a slight shift by the pope was noteworthy. “What’s significant is that this is an exception that’s being voiced by the pope, whereas previously there were no exceptions,” he said.

The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a former student of Benedict and the editor in chief of Ignatius Press, which is publishing the English-language edition of the book, said the pope’s new remarks on condoms were among the most surprising in the volume. But he also stressed that they were “very carefully qualified.”

“It would be wrong to say, ‘Pope Approves Condoms,’ ” Father Fessio said. “He’s saying it’s immoral but in an individual case, the use of a condom could be an awakening to someone that he’s got to be more conscious of his actions.”

The book devotes an entire chapter to the sexual abuse crisis that roared back in the spring, likening it to a natural disaster that marred a year Benedict had intended to celebrate priests. “One might think that the Devil could not stand the Year for Priests and therefore threw this filth in our faces,” he said.

He did, however, acknowledge that the scandal had undermined the moral authority of the Catholic Church. “It is not only the abuse that is upsetting, it is also the way of dealing with it,” he said.

Benedict also defended his decision to revoke the excommunication of four schismatic bishops, including one, Richard Williamson, who turned out to have denied the scope of the Holocaust, provoking international outrage that took the Vatican months to subdue. The pope reiterated that he did not know about Bishop Williamson’s statements.

Benedict’s statements in the book defending Pius XII, who he said “saved more Jews than anyone else” by opening up Italian convents, were already drawing an angry reaction Saturday from Holocaust victims groups. In March, Benedict moved Pius one step closer to sainthood.

Although Benedict mostly defended traditional Vatican policy, he did challenge one that affected him personally and appeared to show that the pontiff was contemplating his own age.

He said that if a pope “clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.”

George Weigel, a biographer of John Paul II, said that canon law is very clear that the papacy becomes vacant only when the pope dies.

“Benedict seems to be putting on the table something that is generally spoken about behind closed doors,” Mr. Weigel said

  23 November 2010, 14:07

Russian Orthodox Church okays use of condoms

Moscow, November 23, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church has said the use of condoms is acceptable following a similar statement made by Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church last week.

"The Foundations of the Social Policy of the Russian Orthodox Church distinguishes between abortive and non-abortive contraception. Priests can allow people to use the latter," head of the synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said in an interview with Interfax-Religion.

However, Father Vsevolod added that it does not mean that the Church approves of "any egoistical decisions made by spouses not to have children."

Speaking about the use of condoms by people who are HIV-positive, Fr. Vsevolod called on these people to "seriously think whether they should have sex because infection can spread not only by direct sexual contact."

The British daily The Guardian reported on Monday, citing a statement by the Holy See, that Pope Benedict XVI intends to consider condom use by observant Catholics in certain situations. Excerpts from a collection the Pope's interviews were published earlier, and in one of those interviews the pope said condom use is justified in some situations.

The statement issued by the Vatican states that the pope agrees that condom use reduces the risk of contracting AIDS.

At the same time, the pope's treatment of the topic considers exceptional situations "in which a sexual act presents a true risk for another's life," Vatican Press Office Director Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement. "In such a case, the Pope does not morally justify the disordered exercise of sexuality," rather, the use of the condom to lessen the danger of contagion may be "a first act of responsibility" and "a first step on the path toward a more human sexuality" rather than acting to put another's life at risk, Rev. Lombardi said in his statement.

Nevertheless, he said in his statement that the pope's comment neither "reforms nor changes" church teachings, which prohibits observant Catholics from using condom