Vatican says teaching on condoms unchanged
According to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI's comments published
late last year about condoms do not mark a change in "Catholic moral
teaching" or "pastoral practice" on AIDS prevention or contraception.
The
statement by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Catholic
Church's highest doctrinal body, represents a rare official
clarification of a pope's words from a Vatican agency. It came in
response to widespread controversy and confusion over Benedict's remarks
about condoms in "Light of the World," a lengthy interview with the
pope published in November and prompting a clarification before
Christmas.
Some commentators had interpreted Benedict's words as
constituting a reversal of the church's longstanding opposition to
condom use for disease prevention and even a possible shift in Catholic
teaching against contraception more generally.
