Almost right

A reader writes concerning the whole condom kerfuffle:

Does it really matter if the sex is homosexual or heterosexual? Sex belongs only in a context of free, fruitful, faithful, and permanent committment. Promiscuous sex, whether hetero or homo, already destroys the meaning of the sexual act. The sex is already outside it’s proper context; the condom is not rendering a good thing bad, as in marriage. It is simply part and parcel of the larger sin.

It seems to me that the pope is saying that outside of marriage, condoms are not evil or encouraged, but rather irrelevant. They are irrelevant from a global health perspective because they do not provide a long-term solution to the AIDS pandemic (” not a real, moral, solution) They are marginally relevant from a moral perspective because they are an accessory to a sinful choice and lifestyle. The heart of the sin is the decision to separate sex from the context of marriage.

The media (and some conservatives have bought into this) has always made it sound like the Pope is telling young Africans “Have all the sex with anyone you want, just DON’T use a condom.” . Instead, he simply has refused to compromise with human souls; he bypasses condom distribution as a distraction, and calls us to work for the true human flourishing that only an ordered sexuality can give.

I think this is what the Media finds so infuriating. Not even to be given even the dignity of jeremiads and righteous indignation, but to be calmly told that their pet salvation is simply an irrelevant distraction to soothe the consciences of the short-sighted.

I think with this understanding of the Pope’s stand on the use of condoms to fight AIDS, his comments are completely consistent both with Church Teaching and his previous comments. One of the things I really love about Pope Benedict (however much trouble it causes) is that he says exactly what he thinks, lovingly, and doesn’t particularly give a damn what you think of him.

I think you are basically on the right track. The only place I think you drop the ball (and I doubt you meant to do so) is that your present formulation *could* be read to mean “So long as you are married, it doesn’t matter if the marriage is heterosexual or homosexual”. I strongly suspect you weren’t aiming to say that (since you speak of “fruitful” sex). But I point it out for clarity’s sake. As to the rest, yeah, I continue to think the Pope was speaking simple common sense and that the whole media kerfuffle is a product of unimagination.