No glove, no love – from God. In a recently published interview with Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican leader announced the Church’s new stance on condom use: it’s all good in the hood. Yes, faithful Catholics, sheath your members with pride. It’s time to pop bottles and order Trojans by the truckload. The asterisk in the “condoms okay” memo states that disease prevention, specifically regarding the HIV virus, is the only moral justification for wearing a condom. The Pope described this measure as a “first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.” The Vatican’s new stance on prophylactics has been applauded by the Untied Nations AIDS program, although just last year on a visit to Cameroon, the Pope said condoms could help bolster the AIDS virus. Condom use merely as contraception is still not condoned. Sorry, AIDS-free Catholics. It seems the Church is remaining stubborn when it comes to condom use as a means of preventing pregnancy, but this is still an unprecedented change of position – like going from missionary straight into a hard core, dominatrix session. What the Church fails to acknowledge is that every time people have unprotected sex, there is a risk of spreading or contracting disease or infection. Even married people cheat. Massage parlors are visited and a burning sensation shortly follows. Only among strictly monogamous, disease-free couples is there no risk – so probably less than 1 percent of all the world’s sex. If condoms are only OK to prevent disease and every sexual partner is a potential gonorrhea playground, then it follows logically that condom use is always OK. I only have one problem with this whole situation, and it’s not with the Pope. The Vatican is making baby steps towards progress-what’s not to like? My problem is with the Catholics who are ready to alter their religious beliefs so radically. I have heard Catholics condemning all forms of contraception thousands of times, especially and including condoms. Condoms were sinful, and the people who believed it did so fervently. Now, those beliefs may have taken a 180, just because one man said so. He’s the leader of the Church, but he’s still a man. He’s not God. Just a super-fly dude in red leather loafers. Religious beliefs should be formed on an individual, personal basis – not because some homie in Rome says so. I want Catholics to change their minds, I want them to realize condom use is necessary and healthy, especially as a family planning resource for married couples. However, this will be at the price of making their previous beliefs seem paper thin. Sex should be enjoyed, especially by married couples who have made a promise to one another not to have sex with anyone else. Thus, every romp around the bedroom doesn’t need to be followed by a child. Despite what the Church tells you, natural family planning is not a form of birth control. It is the absence of birth control. Having to plan sex with your wife around her ovulation period tends to take away from the romance. That’s annoying. And will lead to a staggering increase in masturbation among devout Catholic men. What’s wrong with choosing when to have children? Families will be better prepared, both mentally and financially. And Moses said, “Let my people decrease sensitivity.”
Parker Cramer is a 21-year-old political science senior from Houston.
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