"context", huh? the popes remarks weren't "controversial": they were stupid and dangerous and arrogant.

hamilton dances around the core fact, that catholicism is handcuffed by its own obsessive approach to sexuality. it is not that that the pope simply failed to be reasonable. it is that reason is impossible if you're wedded to such god-given nonsense.

an awful leader of an awful, dangerous cult.

The impression I get from Andrew's piece is that the Pope is taking an extreme stance because anything less can and is twisted by others using cases from the margins. If that is the case we should be able to expect better from the Pope. He is not some local pastor with limited training or education, he is the human head of one of the largest religious sects in the world.

Condoms won't solve everything here or elsewhere but they are an important tool in reducing the spread of STD's. Regardless of what "values" are taught or not taught as part of campaigns there will always be those with a different set of values who are not persuaded and who will act accordingly. Not all of them will choose to use condoms but some will find that more agreeable than abstinence or fidelity.

R0bert

The Catholic church has painted itself into a corner.

It was faced with a catch 22 situation.

Either admit that previous teachings and dogma were wrong and try and save lives at the cost of the credibility of the "infallibility" of the church or:

Stick to its guns with respect to dogma and expose itself to being criticised for being cruel and inhuman.

It was a choice between shooting itself in the head or in the foot. staying true to the literal teachings rather than the meaning of the teachings.

It chose the path of genocide instead of reform.

'The more that Church leaders propound in broad terms a Gospel ethic of generous and full living, the more they and the ethic are seen as narrow and uncompassionate.' This sentence makes no sense at all - what 'generous and full living' are we talking about? Generosity to gays and lesbians? Caring about the welfare of a nine year old in Brazil who was pregnant to her stepfather? Compassion for the poor through Liberation Theology? Protecting paedophile priests at the expense of their victims? Arranging Church affairs so there are no legal entities to be sued by victims of paedophile priests?

Perhaps one day the Catholic church will get its collective mind out of our groins and get over its obsession with sex and sexuality, which is none of their business, and get on with being Christian. It might solve the problem of paedophile priests too.

Andrew,
thanks for an interesting analysis of the complicated problem. It is understandable that those who approach the question with an a priori dislike of the Pope will have "overlooked" that the Pope spoke of the DISTRIBUTION of condoms (since he thinks it will encourage promiscuity), not their USE (e.g. in "emergency situations") . One might be against indiscriminate distribution of condoms in Africa but not against their use in appropriate situations (like I am) or be against both (as the pope apparently is, since he seems to be bound by Humanae Vitae) but one should not confuse the two questions.

Everybody agrees about healthy lifestyles for an individual, but the problem of how to make physically fit a particular society with many overweight people is much more complicated. And as far as sexual behaviour is concerned, Africa is certainly "particular".

It is probably an exageration but somebody compared the distribution of condoms in a (promiscuous) African society with the distribution of bullet-proof vests at schools to solve the problem of school shooting: the vest protects the individual who is hit but the distribution of vests is not the right approach to the solution of the problem .

>> It is understandable that those who approach the question with an a priori dislike of the Pope

prior, yes. a priori, no.

>> will have "overlooked" that the Pope spoke of the DISTRIBUTION of condoms (since he thinks it will encourage promiscuity),
>> not their USE (e.g. in "emergency situations") .

george, how much sophistry can you balance on the head of a pin?