Archbishop's Statement on the Pope’s Teaching on the Use of Condom

In an interview regarding his new book entitled “Light of the World: the Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times,” Pope Benedict XVI said that the use of condoms may be a sign of moral responsibility in some specific situations when the intention is to reduce the risk of HIV infection. In order to clarify what the faithful might perceive as a change in the position of the Church on the use of condoms, the Archdiocese of Caceres issues this statement.

It should be made clear from the start that that the church's teaching against condoms as a form of birth control is different from its position on condoms used in disease prevention. At least, there are three specific issues that need to be addressed: 1. whether the use of condoms is now morally acceptable as a form of birth control; 2. whether the use of condoms is morally acceptable as a means of preventing a disease; 3. whether the use of condoms can resolve the problem of HIV disease.

To the first issue, we maintain that the use of condoms as form of birth control is always not acceptable. Artificial means of controlling births, such as drugs or devices that prevent conception, is itself morally wrong. The use of such things to deliberately frustrate the normal effects of sexual intercourse is considered a grave sin because its ultimate implication is the destruction of human life. Therefore, condom which is considered as an artificial means of controlling birth is morally unacceptable.

To the second issue, the stand of the Pope is clear. If the use of the condoms is to prevent the transmission of a disease, then it would be acceptable. This would be an exceptional situation in which sexual activity places a person's life at risk. While the pope was not morally justifying disordered sexual activity that is involved in prostitution, he was saying that the use of a condom to reduce the risk of transmitting the disease may be an act of moral responsibility. The concern for the safety of a sexual partner may be “a first step toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.”

To the third issue, the church does not see the use of condoms as the solution to the problem of HIV. Promotion of condoms as the only or best answer to AIDS carries grave risks, mainly by promoting the idea that condoms guarantee "safe sex." Instead of solving the problem, condoms increase the problem of promiscuity which is one of the causes of the spread of AIDS. The Pope said that the "sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalisation of sexuality" where sexuality is no longer an expression of love, "but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves". The Church on her part has done the actual act bringing solution to the problem by taking care of the infected people in various charitable institutions.

Despite media claims of a revolutionary change, Pope Benedict is therefore not altering Catholic teaching on condom use or justifying the disordered use of sexuality. He reaffirms it by putting it in the perspective of the value and dignity of human sexuality as an expression of love and responsibility. It's worth noting that in a different section of the new book, the pope defended the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae," which taught that, in the context of married love, contraception techniques, including condoms, are immoral because they close off the possibility of the transmission of life.

We reiterate once more our call for the faithful to remain vigilant and prayerful amidst the pressing concern on the protection of human life.

Given at the office of the Archbishop, this 22nd day of November, in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Ten.

+Leonardo Z. Legaspi, O.P., D.D.

Archbishop of Caceres