The "Catholic" News Service does its damndest (literally) to obscure what Benedict XVI actually said.
Headline:
Pope's remarks in book open new chapter in condom debate
Umnnnnhhhh...that's 50% true. What he said has not been said before by a Pope.
First graf:
In a new book, Pope Benedict XVI said the use of condoms may be a sign of moral responsibility in some specific situations when the intention is to reduce the risk of AIDS.
Only about 25% true. The phrase "some specific situations" actually is ONE "specific situation," and it is a perfectly logical extension of Church teaching on rubbers.
There are a couple of grafs of wasted ink. Then:
But the pope went on to say that in particular cases -- he mentioned prostitutes -- condom use may be justified as a first step toward taking moral responsibility for one's actions.
Now only about 10% true. There IS a key word which CNS deleted.
New we're ~10 grafs in--about 5 grafs past where most people read--and CNS finally decides to print the actual quotation!
"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom..."
Since homosexual relations never produce offspring, 'contraceptive' is irrelevant--and 'contraceptive' is the basis of the Church's opposition to rubber-usage.
IOW, the Pope said nothing which is controversial.
Meantime, the "Catholic" News Service people are trying to get AP (or CNNNBCCBSABC) jobs.
And, predictably, a local dissident decides, with no basis in fact nor in print, that this "extends" to married couples. Expect Dan Maguire interview to do same.
Let us not forget that CNS is a propeganda arm of the USCCB.
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with CNA?EWTN instead.
Well they just followed perpetuated the mess that L’Osservatore Romano reported.
ReplyDeleteSome many pixels have been generated on this already that I hesitate to add to the avalanche. But Fr. John Hunwicke (and Anglo-Catholic priest in Oxford, validly ordained, who will I hope soon be part of the Ordinariate), put it most succinctly:
ReplyDelete”Having contemplated the BBC translation of the German texts, I see what the Holy Father's words mean. He is saying that if a rent-boy has unprotected sex, he is committing two sins: the mortal sin of homosexual genital intercourse; and the mortal sin of risking communicating a lethal infection. If, however, he uses a condom, while he is still committing the first of those mortal sins, he has to a degree excluded the second. By so doing he has, as we might say, taken a step in the right direction. But he has still committed a mortal sin and is still, objectively speaking, not in a state of grace. There is a sense in which it is not as bad to commit one sin as it is to commit two; but the commission of one mortal sin still means that one is objectively in that state of alienation from God which we Christians call Not Being In a State of Grace.”
Good quote GOR
ReplyDelete