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Using condoms may sometimes be justified to stop the spread of AIDS, Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book, in a major shift that relaxes one of the Vatican's most controversial positions on their use to combat the disease. The pope's words, in the book to be published tomorrow, were nonetheless greeted as a breakthrough by dissident Catholics, AIDS workers and commentators. "It is a marvelous victory for common sense and reason, a major step forward toward rec-ognizing that condom use can play a vital role in reducing the future impact of the HIV pandemic, said Jon O'Brien, head of the US group Catholics for Choice. In the 219-page book, Light of the World, the pope also speaks frankly about the possibility that he could resign for health reasons and defends wartime pontiff Pius XII against Jewish accusations that he turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. He says scandals of sexual abuse of minors by priests were "an unprecedented shock," even though he had followed the issue for years, and says he can understand why people might quit the Church in protest. However, it is the section on condoms that marked a crack in the once tightly shut door of Church policy. He cites the example of the use of condoms by prostitutes as "a first step toward moralization," even though condoms are "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection." The original German text and the French and English versions of the book refer to a male prostitute, but an excerpt in Italian in the Vatican newspaper uses female prostitute. While some Roman Catholic leaders have spoken about the limited use of condoms to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS as the lesser of two evils, this is the first time the pope has mentioned the possibility. The leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said the time was ripe for such a papal opening, and even the conservative Il Giornale ran an opinion piece headlined, "We are all sinners, the Church cannot be made of stone." Benedict made clear the comments were not intended to weaken the Church's fundamental opposition to artificial birth control, a source of grievance for many Catholics. Reuters |
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