They hear what they want to hear

The news media is like a wayward teenager, they hear what they want to hear whenever the Pope speaks. The controversy of late can be summarized in the words of the Catholic Culture Editorial.

Secular journalists have routinely interpreted the Pope’s statement as an admission that condom use can be justified, although the Pope’s full statement, in context, clearly makes no such claim.

Condom use cannot be "justified" nor has "The Vatican appeared to open the door Tuesday to a broader discussion about the acceptable uses of condoms," because the Pope said

There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.

Adding that the Church can never regard condom use as “a real or moral solution.”


Though the media distorts, and the bunglers at L’Osservatore Romano promote rash judgment, some things will always remain the same.

Update:Catholic Free Press runs CNS article Pope's remarks open new chapter in condom debate on 11/26/2010, p.3, which makes the preposterous claim that the Italian translation of the Pope's book said that condom use by a prostitute was "justified". Even the Thavis article is confusing, as Thavis quotes Pope Benedict that the Church “of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution [for prostitutes to use condoms], but in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.” So we have the Pope saying in a specific situation that one immoral act might indicate a "first step" towards an understanding of what constitutes moral action, and an alleged reporter claiming the Italian translation does not indicate this as a first step but as "justified".