Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Vatican clarifies Pope's statements on condoms ... again

Yes, it's that time of week again when the Vatican tries desperately to explain to an agenda deaf media just what Pope Benedict meant about the use of condoms. Turns out, the Pope wasn't really altering Church teaching to conform to the latest general knowledge.  Instead, he was more or less affirming what the Church had always taught.  The piece, to its credit, gets it mostly right, allowing the folks to be interviewed and more or less giving a fairly decent background on what happened.  It can't resist mentioning the controversy over Pope Benedict's statement that condoms could increase HIV infections, this despite the fact that most disease research think tanks admit that a blind reliance on condoms can increase HIV infections.  That is one of those times when you get the impression that the anger was at what Pope Benedict was standing for, not what he said.

Anyway, the piece lets us know that there was nothing really new under the sun.  Though it does leave us with a member of the Jesuits who, naturally, sees this as a step in the right direction.  Just what that implies can only be guessed.  Perhaps we'll hear more next week when the Vatican must release yet another clarification. 

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