In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sanctii...

[MsGuy]

In the words of the Holy Father himself,"There may be justified individual cases, for example when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be...a first bit of responsibility."

One can only wonder why this particular aspect of the use of condoms was singled out to justify a reversal of a century old opposition by the Holy See to prophylactics.

[Lucky]

Self-interest?

[BiBottomBoy]

This matters because gay male prostitutes tend to be strictly observant Catholics.

[JKane]

I was mystified by what little I heard of the statement as well. Any other examples?

Why not all sex with prostitutes? Is it because the condom blocks a chance at conception?

But then why not all gay sex?

[Lucky]

In a related matter today, the pope announced that Viagra may be used only when the specific intent in using it is to create new life. One exception the pope allowed is for 83 year old men living in the Vatican,and then only when in the company of a male prostitute who is using a condom.

[MsGuy]

hee hee hee

[Guest zipperzone]

I was mystified by what little I heard of the statement as well. Any other examples?

Why not all sex with prostitutes? Is it because the condom blocks a chance at conception?

But then why not all gay sex?

Why not just ignore the Pope and his draconian thought processes. I fail to understand how anyone who is capable of thinking for himself can swallow the crap that the Vatican spews forth.

[BiBottomBoy]

The church has said in the past that their only objection to condom use is when it blocks conception, so there is some logic here, even if it's crazy religious logic.

[Lucky]

A website called the Language Log discusses the translation issues in the pope's statement on prostitutes. I will give you an excerpt and let you go to the site to read the whole thing:

Some sources this Sunday morning are claiming that the morphosyntactically feminine word prostituta is sex-neutral; others (like the blog commenter Geremia on the National Catholic Register) say it means only "female prostitute". Yet the official translation of the Pope's remark translates it as "male prostitute". The three claims flatly contradict each other. Which is the most defensible, on the basis of linguistic facts?

I do not know the answer (I know relatively little Italian). I ask merely for information. Here is the relevant passage from the forthcoming book-length interview that is the basis for all the stories:

Vi possono essere singoli casi giustificati, ad esempio quando una prostituta utilizza un profilattico, e questo può essere il primo passo verso una moralizzazione, un primo atto di responsabilità per sviluppare di nuovo la consapevolezza del fatto che non tutto è permesso e che non si può far tutto ciò che si vuole. Tuttavia, questo non è il modo vero e proprio per vincere l'infezione dell'Hiv. È veramente necessaria una umanizzazione della sessualità.

As translated in the forthcoming book itself (read it in the Catholic World Report here), the English equivalent is supposed to be this:

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.

This is Language Log, not Church Dogma And Sexual Repression Log, so we are not going to get into the moral or religious issues...

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2794

[JKane]

Why not just ignore the Pope and his draconian thought processes. I fail to understand how anyone who is capable of thinking for himself can swallow the crap that the Vatican spews forth.

I agree absolutely, but was glad to see that they may be coming around and eventually stop telling people in places like Africa that they'll go to hell if they use a condom.

[BiBottomBoy]

I bet the people in hell are more fun than the people in heaven.