The media has been having a field day this weekend misinterpreting what the Pope said about condoms in a book called Light of the World which is an interview between Pope Benedict and journalist Peter Seewald. All over the tv, newspaper and internet you've probably seen headlines such as "Pope Softens Teaching on Condoms", blah, blah, blah. No, he hasn't. Here's some quick advice: If you ever hear the media reporting on something regarding the Church - disregard and go look at what the Pope or the Church actually said. Don't rely on the media to form your understanding of the Church because more often than not the media misunderstands, misinterprets or just plain gets it wrong. So let's look at what the Pope actually said in the interview:
Q: On the occasion of your trip to Africa in March 2009, the Vatican’s policy on AIDs once again became the target of media criticism.Twenty-five percent of all AIDs victims around the world today are treated in Catholic facilities. In some countries, such as Lesotho, for example, the statistic is 40 percent. In Africa you stated that the Church’s traditional teaching has proven to be the only sure way to stop the spread of HIV. Critics, including critics from the Church’s own ranks, object that it is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.
A: The media coverage completely ignored the rest of the trip to Africa on account of a single statement. Someone had asked me why the Catholic Church adopts an unrealistic and ineffective position on AIDs. At that point, I really felt that I was being provoked, because the Church does more than anyone else. And I stand by that claim. Because she is the only institution that assists people up close and concretely, with prevention, education, help, counsel, and accompaniment. And because she is second to none in treating so many AIDs victims, especially children with AIDs.
I had the chance to visit one of these wards and to speak with the patients. That was the real answer: The Church does more than anyone else, because she does not speak from the tribunal of the newspapers, but helps her brothers and sisters where they are actually suffering. In my remarks I was not making a general statement about the condom issue, but merely said, and this is what caused such great offense, that we cannot solve the problem by distributing condoms. Much more needs to be done. We must stand close to the people, we must guide and help them; and we must do this both before and after they contract the disease.
As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself. More needs to happen. Meanwhile, the secular realm itself has developed the so-called ABC Theory: Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom, where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work. This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.
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, 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.
Q: Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?
A: 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.
As those of you who have gone through our Theology of the Body studies here at CCM know, contraception is an intrinsic evil. This has been and will always be the teaching of the Church. Doctines and dogmas of the Church are unchanging. Sex is meant to be an expression of profound love between a husband and wife. The Church's teachings on human sexuality are incredibly beautiful and help us understand what it means to be human and truly live out the beauty that God has called us to. It must be understood that when the Church says 'no' to something like contraception, it is saying 'Yes!' to something much more true, beautiful and good for us! Our hearts deeply desire what the Church teaches and we discover that when we truly learn why the Church teaches what she does. The Church is helping us understand how to live our lives as a self-gift as Christ himself lived. Isn't that what being a Christian is about? To be like Jesus Christ? To live like him? To love like him? How did Jesus live? Jesus offered himself up for us in a free, total, faithful and fruitful gift. That, in turn, is also how we are called to love - and that is what authentic love is. So if sex is meant to be a profound expression of the authentic love of a husband and wife (who are to be icons of the spousal relationship of Christ and the Church), then we must ask ourselves if contraception expresses authentic love which is free, total, faithful and fruitful. The answer, of course, is no, it does not. Why? Well, the purpose of contraception is to thwart conception therefore it attempts to suffocate the fruitful aspect of authentic love. Contraceptives also tempt people to engage in pre-marital or extra-martial affairs because they diminish the possibility of conception. Also, in using contraceptives you say to your spouse that you do not want to give yourself totally because you are withholding your fertility. For more on all this read these books.
Ok, so back to the Pope's interview. What was he saying? Let's first look at what he didn't say: The Pope did not say that condoms are ok for contracepting. Contraceptives are never ok. In fact, he didn't even say that condoms are ever ok. He stated many times that condoms are not moral or real solutions in combating the fight against AIDS - reiterating what he had said on his pilgrimage to Africa a while back. There are better and more conrete ways of preventing the spread of HIV - and in countries that have realized this, the spread of HIV has decreased significantly. Now let's look at what the Pope did say: He basically said that sometimes a person's intention of not spreading infection could be a first step in awakening a moral responsibility in the person which could lead to an authentic "humanization of sexuality" and authentic moral living (which, of course, would mean sex only in marriage as well as no condom use or other contraceptives). But condoms are not a moral or real solution. As Emily Bissonnette points out, "the Holy Father is not saying that this intention makes condom use good." (By the way I highly recommend reading Emily's commentary on this issue - just click on the link to read it.)
The Church's teachings are for our good and happiness and to help us authentically live out our humanity created in the image and likeness of God. The Church's doctrines and dogmas are unchanging and the Pope is the Guardian of Truth. The media has totally blown what he said out of proportion and out of context - as it usually does. Again don't rely on the media to learn about the Church. Learn about the Church from the Church.
Read more voices of truth on this topic here:
Thomas Peters
Dr. Janet Smith
Emily Bissonnette
Jimmy Akin
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