Volumne 5 No. 2
One South African Bishop Supports Condoms To Prevent AIDS
The Agence
France-Presse reports that a Roman Catholic newspaper in South
Africa, The Southern Cross, has thrown its support behind
a local bishop who believes the church should lift its ban on condom
use to prevent HIV infections in AIDS-ravaged sub- Saharan Africa. The
Southern Cross said that condoms provide one way, "albeit an
imperfect one," of halting the spread of AIDS. The editorial continued,
"In that light, the church is called to reconcile its total ban
on prophylactics with the philosophy of the sanctity of life."
Earlier, Bishop Kevin Dowling had said that the AIDS
crisis in South Africa requires the church to permit the use of condoms
to stop "transmitting death." The editorial backed
Dowling's comments, explaining that this view should be seen as an attempt
to balance Catholic doctrine with the compassion the Church should how
toward the most vulnerable people in society. The editorial went on
to say, "Bishop Kevin Dowling's contribution to this debate
articulates what many Catholics, including moral theologians, have been
reasoning for a long time."