Catholics to ease condom band? I don't believe it

I just don't believe it will be OK for married folks to use condoms if one or the other has AIDS.

To me if there is not preocretaion possible, sex is out. The Church also allows older, seemingly infertile couples to have sex as long as they are open to procreation, along Sarah's route of miricle.

We shall see. I can not see a way to reconstruct the basis to move sex simply to it's unitive power when procreation is still possible although deadly. If this unravels, all sex between loving couples will be sanctioned eventually. It will not unravel.

One year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican, in a reversal of church doctrine, is prepared to allow the use of condoms to combat AIDS.

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In a victory for reform-minded critics of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has now reversed the Catholic Church's long-standing position with regard to the use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV virus.

Only last week Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the highly influential former Archbishop of Milan, set a precedent by making a public appeal to at least permit condom use to prevent the transmission of deadly viruses.

"We need to do everything possible to combat AIDS. Under certain conditions, the use of condoms is necessary. Those who are afflicted have an obligation to protect the other partner," he told the Italian weekly newsmagazine L'Espresso. At the same time, he emphasized that this was not a green light for the church to actively start distributing condoms.

Though many German Catholics take pride that the pope is a fellow countryman, the reaction towards the pontiff has been mixed from progressive Catholics. However the easing of the church's absolutist position on the use of artificial means of birth control suggests Pope Benedict XVI could bring the church more in line with social realities and reformist views.