VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican took a swipe at new sex education classes
in New York City schools on Wednesday (Aug. 31), saying teaching middle
school students how to use a condom is "useless, and even harmful."
The front-page editorial of the Vatican's official newspaper,
L'Osservatore Romano, criticized all mandatory sex ed classes in public
schools but was aimed particularly at New York's new program, which has
been opposed heavily by Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
The editorial criticized governments' "magical trust in the
effectiveness of sex education." Citing longtime sex ed programs in
Britain, the paper said "boys and girls continue to have early sexual
intercourse without any kind of protection, and the number of
pregnancies and abortions among adolescents has multiplied."
