Tale of Two Continents
Barbara Ellen writing in The Observer recently posed a pertinent question to Pope Francis on the Vatican's highly selective attitude regrading the use of contraception.
Now the Pope is from South America (Argentina) which may help to explain why he has put common humanity ahead of church dogma, but the Vatican now looks ridiculous over its refusal to sanction the use of condoms to help combat the spread of Aids in Africa.
By Barbara Ellen - The Observer
Pope Francis has said that artificial contraception may be used to protect against the Zika virus. But the church will not do the same for Aids
Pope Francis has softened the approach to contraception. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Pope Francis has indicated that the Catholic church is prepared to condone artificial contraception to avoid pregnancy in response to the Zika virus, believed to be spread primarily by mosquitoes (though also possibly by sexual contact). Zika is suspected to be the cause of thousands of cases of microcephaly (unusually small heads) and other severe birth abnormalities and conditions, leading desperate women to rush to terminate pregnancies in heavily affected areas such as South America. Many women affected by Zika have been begging for help from outside aid agencies.
Returning to Rome after a visit to Mexico, Francis alluded to an earlier exception issued by Pope Paul VI (permitting nuns in Africa at risk of wartime rape in the 1960s to use birth control), telling reporters that abortion remained a crime and an “absolute evil”, but “avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil” and could be “the lesser evil”.
All this talk of “evil” is jarring, but that, and the Vatican’s attitude to abortion, remains fixed. The head of the Catholic church isn’t going to stop believing in evil, or denouncing abortion as a mortal sin, in the near future. Indeed, as gnomic papal announcements go, this is about as direct and encouraging as it gets.
Pope Francis has indicated that the Catholic church is prepared to condone artificial contraception to avoid pregnancy in response to the Zika virus, believed to be spread primarily by mosquitoes (though also possibly by sexual contact). Zika is suspected to be the cause of thousands of cases of microcephaly (unusually small heads) and other severe birth abnormalities and conditions, leading desperate women to rush to terminate pregnancies in heavily affected areas such as South America. Many women affected by Zika have been begging for help from outside aid agencies.
Returning to Rome after a visit to Mexico, Francis alluded to an earlier exception issued by Pope Paul VI (permitting nuns in Africa at risk of wartime rape in the 1960s to use birth control), telling reporters that abortion remained a crime and an “absolute evil”, but “avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil” and could be “the lesser evil”.
All this talk of “evil” is jarring, but that, and the Vatican’s attitude to abortion, remains fixed. The head of the Catholic church isn’t going to stop believing in evil, or denouncing abortion as a mortal sin, in the near future. Indeed, as gnomic papal announcements go, this is about as direct and encouraging as it gets.
