Clarifying the Pope

Last week, the Pope pronounced that it is ok to use condoms in certain cases. Those in the Philippines who support the passage of the Reproductive Health bill saw this as a sign that the catholic church is about to change it's position of contraceptives while those who oppose the bill tried to do damage control and assert that the fundamental stance of the church remains the same.

What they are missing is that the Pope in this instance stopped focusing on the doctrine, but focused on the consequences of that doctrine. Less than a year ago, the Pope was too focused on the doctrine that in his visit to Africa

"The Pope had said the "cruel epidemic" should be tackled through abstinence and fidelity rather than condom use."

He was so focused on the doctrine that he dismissed those dying of AIDS and those at risk in contracting HIV in order to promote the doctrine. His recent pronouncement makes it seem that he has now focused on the people, that it is now more important to him to save the people rather than follow the doctrine blindly.

This is why we are hopeful that catholic doctrine will change, it may not be tomorrow, it may be years from now, but once you focus on the effects of the doctrine on people, you will notice other things. One of them as Congressman Lagman points out

"If condom use is the lesser evil than the spread of HIV/AIDS as clarified by Papal sources, then contraceptives are an infinitely lesser evil than maternal death and abortion,"