Will wonders never cease... Back in late November, the Pope made a statement that has shifted how the Church thinks about condoms.
"Using a condom is a lesser evil than transmitting HIV to a sexual partner -- even if that means a woman averting a possible pregnancy, the Vatican said Tuesday, signalling a seismic shift in papal teaching as it further explained Pope Benedict XVI's comments."
It's better to use a condom (even though it is "bad" from the procreation point of view), than to pass along HIV to another (which is really "bad"). Very important for slowing the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa... The Vatican has pulled its collective head out of the sand and realized something needs to be done...
Interesting... this idea of lesser evil and greater evil is apparently quite common in moral theology... And this shift in the Vatican's thinking about condom use makes me wonder if other shifts might happen...
For example, morally, would it not be better for homosexual couples to marry and live in a committed relationship (bad in the Vatican's eyes) than for them to live a promiscuous lifestyle (really bad in the Vatican's eyes)?
Just wondering... Which is the greater evil?
No comments:
Post a Comment