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Pope: Condoms Can Be Justified in Some Cases

S

_Shannon_

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I agree with the pope... for the male prostitute, condom usage would be last on his list of sins committed, he needs to worry about.

LOL...

If you are gay- using a condom can not add to the sin.

But in no way should anyone in their right mind take this as any kind of affirmation of condom usage amongst heterosexuals.
Why not? If you are fornicating, does using a condom add to your sin?
 
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Kepha

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shouldn't the Pope be condemning homosexuality instead?:confused:
Pretty much every Catholic and the secular world already know that the Church teaches against Homosexual activities.

He intentionally gave sort of a worse case scenario regarding sexuality to show that even among the homosexuals, a light of hope exists and that with the Grace of God can lead them into what 'the sexual act' means in the full sense. Homosexual relations and condoms of course not being a part of that act.
 
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M

Memento Mori

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full text

I feel silly for worrying about this now. The pope doesn't say any of the things the media are claiming. :doh: He uses the example that the incidence of a male prostitute choosing contraception can indicate a "first step in the direct of moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality."

So what about the claim that the pope says condom use is at least somewhat justified? He doesn't say that either. He says, "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 human way, of living sexuality."

The pope is NOT saying that the use of condoms is justified in any circumstances. He is saying that the "intention of reducing the risk of infection" is a first step towards a true view of sexuality, but that condoms are NOT the best way to bring about this intention.

This story was so overblown, I am more angry with myself for buying into it than I am with the people who peddled it. I'll be going to bed without a doubt in my mind that the pope has said nothing new. Good riddance!
 
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LivingWordUnity

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I have a bad feeling about this, and my spirit has been heavy all evening since hearing this.
Then the media accomplished its goal. Remember that the media has an incentive to hype and distort news to make a fast buck. Don't jump the gun. Calm down, and wait to hear it from the Pope himself in something official like an encyclical before getting worried. So far, all we are getting of this is second-hand information from an obscure source.
 
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AMDG

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Then the media accomplished its goal. Remember that the media has an incentive to hype and distort news to make a fast buck.

Been hearing reporters (who are positively giddy and who don't shrink at interjecting their personal opinions) report on how the Pope is now saying that condoms are okay in certain cases to prevent HIV. They say it is the "hoped for opening". Of course, it is all wrong and I imagine that quite a bit of damage has been done.
 
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M

Memento Mori

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this is an easy way to understand it, IMO

SCENARIO A: A single mother doesn't care about her two starving kids, but one day she decides to take responsibility for them. She starts selling her body for sex so she can afford to feed her children. Her intention to provide for the children is the first step towards moralization because she recognizes that she does not live for herself alone. However, prostitution is not a real or moral solution to her problems.

SCENARIO B: An HIV-positive prostitute has sex indiscriminately and does not care whom he infects, but one day he decides to take responsibility for his disease. He decides to start wearing condoms. His intention to reduce the risk of infection in his clients is the first step towards moralization because he recognizes that not everything is permissible and that he must assume responsibility for the good of others. However, condoms are not a real or moral solution to the evil of HIV infection.
 
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scraparcs

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I seriously doubt that the Pope didn't choose his words wisely.

It sounds like he's saying that in the case of an act where a person infected with HIV is going to have sex anyway, at least they're using a condom and trying to reduce the risk of infecting their partner with HIV. What's worse, committing the sin of using a condom or committing the sin of infecting someone with HIV?
 
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MoonlessNight

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This may sound paranoid but a good first reaction is if you see a report in a mainstream news source about the Church or the Pope to just stop reading. If you do keep reading, take everything with an ocean of salt and try your best to look for transcripts, original documents, etc. If the report doesn't specify where or when these comments transpired, say "well, I guess I'll wait to see if more comes out on this."

I have never seen a paper get a story completely (or even mainly) right on a topic like this. I have seen report after report where a lengthy work was mined for the one comment about homosexuality, condoms, etc. and that quote was given an entire report. To make matters worse papers will often speculate what the quote "really means" without being completely clear that their analysis is about as grounded in reality as reading the spots on a goat's kidney. My favorite one of these is when the Pope celebrated an mass during ordinary time wearing green, and this generated a report about his provocative statement that the Church needed to have environmentalism as its first priority.
 
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Eretria90

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I don't trust the media anymore. Absolutely no truth in anything being reported, people spreading lies. Why is this legal? I find it funny that enemies of the Church claim we are blind followers of the pope, yet these same people are so gullible to jump onto the bandwagon as sheep they worship everything in the media and take everything the media reports as true. To me it seems these people are the real "blind followers.":thumbsup:

Already I can see the "hype" this misinformation has caused. It's running rampant on a forum I commonly read at and all these irreligious people are making idiotic comments such as "the Catholic Church has finally made it to the 21st century." Even worse we are being called "backwards" people. How insulting and uneducated can people be? How stupid can be people be.:doh:

This is normal though. I wouldn't expect anything less.
 
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Eucharisted

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I don't trust the media anymore. Absolutely no truth in anything being reported, people spreading lies. Why is this legal? I find it funny that enemies of the Church claim we are blind followers of the pope, yet these same people are so gullible to jump onto the bandwagon as sheep they worship everything in the media and take everything the media reports as true. To me it seems these people are the real "blind followers.":thumbsup:

Already I can see the "hype" this misinformation has caused. It's running rampant on a forum I commonly read at and all these irreligious people are making idiotic comments such as "the Catholic Church has finally made it to the 21st century." Even worse we are being called "backwards" people. How insulting and uneducated can people be? How stupid can be people be.:doh:

This is normal though. I wouldn't expect anything less.

Don't generalize. Instead seek what is good and shun what is evil. Otherwise you're on the road to paranoia, conspiracy theories, and gullibility.
 
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Eretria90

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Don't generalize. Instead seek what is good and shun what is evil. Otherwise you're on the road to paranoia, conspiracy theories, and gullibility.

I'm not into conspiracy theories. Far from it. I just get tired of the media and all their anti-Catholic "news." I probably lashed out too much in that post, but it's amazing how many people worship misinformation.
 
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MoonlessNight

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Yet is it absolutely true? No. So he did generalize. Study the fallacy of generalization and it's variants.
Or she used a slightly hyperbolic statement of a type commonly used in day to day conversation. It wasn't presented as a formal proof of: "my experience is that most newspapers that I have seen have been inaccurate. Therefore all information from newspapers is false."
 
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