By now, you’ve probably come across the controversial remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI on condoms in a recent book-length interview. The media quickly ran with some leaked paragraphs, doing their usual anti-Catholic twisting and misinterpretation.
Before reading any news articles on this topic, I suggest you read the Pope’s exact words first (they are only a few paragraphs long).
The Catholic Church has always rejected the use of contraception because it separates the two fundamental aspects of sex: marital unity and procreation. God created sex to be free, faithful, fruitful, and total. Contraception, however, compromises these last two demands–it makes the union unfruitful, for children are rejected, and incomplete, for each person’s fertility is held back from one another.
(A couple of interesting side notes: all Christians opposed contraception until 1930, while the rise of contraception has directly correlated to a rise in divorce, for many various reasons. Read Humane Vitae so see how Pope Paul VI predicted these effects way back in the 1960’s.)
In Pope Benedict’s remarks, he didn’t ‘change’ or ‘modify’ Church teaching–something no Pope can ever do, anyways (they can only articulate it or apply it in new ways)–and he certainly didn’t ‘justify’ condoms or make them ‘acceptable’ in cases of disease prevention.
His simple point was that in some situations, using a condom may be a small-step toward a moral life; not a moral step itself, but a step toward morality. If I have the intense urge to kill someone, but after considering it instead decide to punch him in the face, I’ve still chosen an immoral action, but my choice would at least be a small step toward a deeper morality. It would be a turning toward the light rather than a resolution to remain in darkness.
After you’ve read the Pope’s own words, read this commentary from Dr. Janet Smith, one of the most renowned Catholic moral theologians in our country. Dr. Smith also has a great talk on the subject of contraception titled Contraception–Why Not? (you can listen to it for free here, or read the text here).
Finally, after you’ve read the Pope’s own words and Dr. Smith’s commentary, watch this hilarious tongue-in-cheek video created by The American Papist, Thomas Peters:
(The book-length interview that these quotes were pulled from is titled “Light of the World”, and it was just published yesterday by Ignatius Press. I was sent a review copy of the book, so after I finish it I will post a review that will also include thoughts on the other 198 pages not dealing with condoms.)
Update: And here, finally, here is the commentary from Fr. Barron, who I count as the best preacher and teacher in the Catholic world.