More than enough clashing opinions caused by Benedict XVI’s response to a question about condom have inundated the channels of communication. In turn, minds are agitated to the point of confusion if not apathy in understanding whether the Church position on condom has loosened or changed.
The condom issue has produced a debate of global turbulence after the pope airs his opinion on the extreme and limited use of condom to prevent the spread of the AIDS virus.
Condom is primarily invented to prevent pregnancy but when sexually transmitted diseases (STD) became pestilence, it doubles as a barrier in contracting the dreaded disease.
What the Pope expressed could be a random opinion in response to a random question while in the process of an interview. While waiting for a copy of “The Light of the World” to hit the book shelves, it is wise not to rush into conclusion on the intended point the Pontiff wants to convey. From what we read there is nothing official the Pope said. He merely expressed his opinion.
Some foreign publications think that Benedict intends to change a Church doctrine that prohibits the use of artificial contraception.
That is not true.
Although he is the visible head of the Catholic Church, the Pope cannot alter or nullify any pronounced doctrines such as the Trinity or Parthenogenesis. From the very start, the Church is against artificial contraception because “the Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies that all sex acts must be both unitive and procreative”. (2366)
That simple sentence, easy to understand, prohibits the use or artificial contraception.
When Adam and Eve came into being, Genesis relates, God commanded them to "be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”
That is not a request but a “command”. Who are we to say “NO”?
To decide when to have a new life or when not to have a new life through the use of condom or other contraceptives is immoral for in so doing is playing the hands of God who alone has the omnipotence to decide when a new life is to be.
Upon learning the pontifical response, House minority Edcel Lagman, author of the reproductive health measure Bill 96 gleefully said, “That is a welcome development because the papacy is opening up to the eventual contraceptive use.”
The truth of the matter is we grope for holes to insist and justify that artificial birth control is all right to assuage poverty instead of exerting efforts to fight and eliminate graft and corruption which to my belief are the foremost roots of our poverty.
It is clear that Benedict XVI did not mean the use of condom to regulate birth but rather to prevent the spread of AIDS. Since the end game we want is the green light from Rome on the use of contraceptives, we don’t run out of ideas to suggest that the stand of the Church is wrong through distortion.
No matter what, there is no reason to believe that the Church changes its position on artificial contraception and there is no reason to believe that debates on the issue cease soon.
We must accept the fact that Christ, the Truth (Jn. 14:6), does not deceive or can be deceived. His teachings which the Church interprets through the Magisterium is always the truth no matter how hard we insist that He is wrong. 30-
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Additional reading materials:
http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20101123-304740http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20101122-304724
http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20101123-304742
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=109223
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