Could this be the pope's Trojan Horse?

Nothing about the settled Catholic doctrines on sexuality was changed by the Pope's remarks, which a) have no doctrinal authority, and b) are in line with previous statements the Church has made.

All he really said was that someone already way off the moral rails might be showing at least some sense of responsibility if he chooses to reduce the risk of spreading disease while spreading his spiritual poison.

That said, I think that some of his past statements (not so much this one, actually), indicate that Pope Benedict may be on the side of those who claim that when someone has HIV, it may at times be moral for them to use condoms within their marriage. That's an issue which has yet to be clearly settled in the Vatican, but some quite orthodox high-level moral theologians have argued that based on existing Church doctrine, that is, in fact, the case.

On a side note, trying to throw women's ordination into this is absurd.

And, the Catholic Church's job is to teach the eternal morality entrusted to it by God, not to conform to the ever changing moral trends of the secular world of any century.

How sad that BUMP and others show such anger and rage at Debra and even Catholicism. Disagreeing with an opinion or the 'rules' of a particular religious orthodoxy is part of our freedom of speech that Americans become accustomed, but the nastiness in the speech says more about the respondent, and takes away any influence the post might have had. Thank you Debra for a hopeful and positive look at this issue.

Thanks for the clarity and insight you have brought to this "sensitive" issue, and the humor you use to help bring the Catholic Church into, if not the 21st, at least the 20th century.

Asking a vulgar ignoramus like the authoress to comment on sexual ethics, or on any aspect of Catholic theology, is the height of absurdity.

Posted by: thebump | November 24, 2010 5:04 AM

This rich coming from a supporter of RCC. The whole institution is corrupt to the core. A institution steeped in teh crimes of the Nazis, & Italian Fascists & Spanish Fascusts wouldn't have a clue about ethics or morality. It is evident from teh ways in which they have been protecting their pedophile homosexuals. The RCC morality is if you have to be a Homosexual do it with young children.

@ THEBUMP - Namecalling? Very mature. And you call Debra vulgar?? ha!

We can only hope that this is a step in the direction of acknowledging the gray areas of sexual morality in Catholic thought, and actually weighing the harm against the good of what the Church currently teaches is the only moral path: abstinence, NFP, or hell.

Asking a vulgar ignoramus like the authoress to comment on sexual ethics, or on any aspect of Catholic theology, is the height of absurdity.

LOL 'Trojan' I get it.

I don’t see the Pope’s words as progressive at all. He’s essentially just saying ”Why not give the condemned man on the gallows a last cigarette? It can do no more moral harm, and it might just calm him down a bit.”

The Vatican's self-congratulatory statement about how the Pope is doing so well by stepping into the 1980s is risible. I'm not nearly as optimistic as you are that the Pope will finally admit that their teachings about sexuality were not only unrelated to morality but actually dangerous to some.