According to a Yahoo news story, Pope Benedict XVI said that condoms are permissible in certain cases. In his new book the pontiff writes that condoms are justified for male prostitutes who want to stop the spread of AIDS.
The book, titled “Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Time,” was released on Nov. 16, 2010.
The church has long opposed the use of condoms because they are a form of contraceptive. The Vatican has always been criticized for its stance against condoms.
Benedict pointed out that condoms are not a “moral solution,” according to the article. He said that in the cases of male prostitutes, they could be justified “in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.”
Benedict said that justification for this use is “a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexually.”
He used the example of male prostitutes as opposed to married couples where one spouse is infected. Church officials in Africa have pressured the Vatican to approve use of condoms for monogamous couples in order to protect the uninfected spouse from infection.
In 2009 while traveling to Africa, the Pope drew heavy criticism from the UN, AIDS activists and European governments when he said that the AIDS problem in Africa could not be resolved through the use of condoms. He said that condoms would actually worsen the problem.
In his book Benedict said that condoms were not the way to deal with AIDS, and in other parts of the book he reaffirmed the church teachings on contraception and abortion by saying, “How many children are killed who might one day have been geniuses, who could have given humanity something new, who could have given us new Mozart or some new technical discovery?”
In the book he also repeated the church’s position that the only sure way to prevent AIDS is to practice abstinence and marital fidelity.