Pope Says Some Condom Use 'First Step' of Morality

In the limited context of preventing the onward transmission of HIV, condom use could be a first step toward embracing a different, moral sense of sexuality, Pope Benedict XVI said in a book to be released Tuesday. Benedict made the statement over the course of a six-day interview with German journalist Peter Seewald. The pope's remarks about condoms form just a section of the book by Seewald and Benedict, titled "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times."

Seewald asked whether it is not "madness" for the Vatican to prohibit condom use by populations at risk for HIV.

"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, the first assumption of responsibility," Benedict replied in the English translation. The Italian excerpt in Vatican City's L'Osservatore Romano's translation is "female prostitute," and the interview was in German. The discrepancy was not immediately resolved.

The church "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 human way, of living sexuality," Benedict said.

However, abstinence and marital fidelity are the only sure way to prevent HIV, Benedict reiterated. In another section of the book, he reaffirms the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitea," in which Pope Paul VI explicates the church's opposition to artificial contraception. Benedict repeated the church's endorsement of the rhythm method, in which married couples refrain from sex on days when the wife is likely to be fertile.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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