POPE... in CONDOM USING
What he did say, in a long interview with German Journalist Peter Seewald, is that using a condom to prevent the spread of disease might be evidence of a person's moral awakening to the need to avoid harming others. The Pope hastened to repeat his consistent statement that condoms are not a moral solution to the AIDS crisis, but that their use may be justified in specific cases to reduce the risk of infection.
His message is that he understands the complexities of human life, that people often have to make choices among competing moral values. In one of his more startlingly pragmatic statements in the interview, while expressing some frustration that his entire trip to Africa in March 2009 was overshadowed by critical reaction to the comments he made at that time reinforcing traditional Church teaching on condoms, he said, "As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself."
So! The Pope knows that people often go about their business without following the rules? That is not exactly a news flash, and yet, his acknowledgement of the facts of life seems refreshingly pastoral. Yet, hard-liners see this pastoral tone as pernicious, opening the door to the possibility of change in traditional Church teaching on contraception.
That's quite unlikely; the Pope was commenting specifically on containing the AIDS crisis in Africa, not on the ultimate issue of artificial birth control.
The Pope's dilemma is that he is both the Supreme Pontiff and a pastoral teacher. One role requires him to pronounce dogma clearly and unambiguously. The other role requires him to convey a sense of empathy and understanding for the struggles of human life, where moral questions are often complicated and messy.
Like it or not, it's the Pope's job to state the rules clearly: No sex outside of marriage, and all sex must be for the purpose of procreation.
But even the Pope knows that clear rules are not enough; it's also his job to help his flock figure out how to live each day in the best way possible. Interpreting Church teachings for daily life is what priests must do all the time
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The world's most prominent religious leader does not make public statements lightly or without careful consideration of their consequences. Like the chairman of the Federal Reserve, whose remarks can make markets rise or fall, the Pope's smallest comment can have massive ramifications not only for Catholics, but for the larger society.
So when the Pope chose to give the interview, published in the book Light of the World, he made a serious pastoral choice to venture into dicey territory on a number of fronts: not only condoms, but also Church relations with Islam, the clergy child abuse scandal, and his decision to rescind the excommunication of a bishop who denied the Holocaust. (The interview is fascinating; I urge people to read the whole book, not just the excerpts that caused the controversy.)
Far from offering one-dimensional pieties, the Pope's interview discloses doubt, regret, frustration, faith and pragmatism at a level far beyond the kind of rote recitation of religious dogma that most people expect from the Pope.
