The public debate on church
teaching on condoms triggered by Pope Benedict XVI's comments in a new
book is an ideal opportunity for parish priests to clarify it for the
faithful from the pulpit, said the president of Caritas Internationalis.
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, told The
Record, Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Perth, that many
Catholics do not know what the church teaches in this regard.
"This could be a good opportunity for us in the parishes to clarify and
to teach," said the cardinal, who has completed separate doctorates in
philosophy, theology and moral theology and holds a diploma in clinical
psychology and psychotherapy.
The book, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the
Times," was based on interviews Pope Benedict granted German journalist
Peter Seewald. The book was released Nov. 23.
In the book, Pope Benedict said: "There may be a basis in the case of
some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where
this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first
assumption of responsibility, on the way toward discovering an awareness
that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one
wants."
Cardinal Rodriguez laughed off claims made in secular media globally
that the pope had changed the church's teaching on the use of condoms.
"It has been the doctrine of the church all the time that when there are
emergency cases the principle of double effect (applies). The pope was
only quoting the extreme cases, so I believe it is coherent (with
existing Catholic teaching)," Cardinal Rodriguez told The Record Nov. 26
during a four-day trip to Australia.
The church teaches that the principle of double effect may be employed
when one is considering an action that is morally good, yet the action
involves one or more unintended bad consequences. Because these
consequences are side effects and not directly willed, the choice that
brings them about is morally acceptable.
"We, as disciples of Christ, have a lot to learn; we cannot pretend that
in special matters all the baptized know everything, as we are always
learning and trying to implement what the mother church is teaching us,"
the cardinal said.
SIC: CNS/INT'L