Pope opens to 'moral' use of condoms
In an unprecedented admission Pope Benedict XVI has said that “in some cases the use of a condom is justified.”
In an extract of a book ‘Light of the World’ that will reproduce an interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, Pope Benedict XVI says: “there may be instances where singular cases may be justified, for example when a prostitute uses a condom, and this may be the first step towards moralisation, a first act towards responsibility to develop a more conscious world where not all is allowed and nobody could do as he or she likes.”
But Pope Benedict also stresses that “this is not the way to combat HIV.”
The extract published by the Vatican’s main media organ ‘Osservatore Romano’ goes on to to show how the Pope has spoken about a series of issues, starting from the paedophile scandal that has rocked the church and profoundly disturbed him, to the burqa, for whom he believes is not always right to prohibit muslim women from wearing, and drugs, which “destroy the future,” to Pope Pius XII “who saved many Jews.”
On the paedophile scandal, Pope Benedict confessed: “seeing priesthood taint itself in such a disgusting manner, and with it the whole of the Catholic Church was so difficult to endure.”
“The facts that emerged did not surprise me, as in my time at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I was looking into the cases in America, and I also saw the origins of the cases that emerged in Ireland. But the scale of the scandal were an enormous shock for me,” the Pope said.
On the burqa, Pope Benedict has stressed his belief that a ‘generalised prohibition’ is not justified, as long as muslim women are not obliged to wear it against their own free will.
“If muslim women wear a burqa voluntarily, then I see absolutely no justification in not having them wear it,” the Pope said.