Vatican shelves ‘unpopular’ condom study

Edward Pentin’s Vatican Notebook
he Vatican has ceased working on a long-anticipated study of condoms and Aids, saying that “nothing serious” has been done on the project.
“There was a project,” Bishop Jose Luis Redrado Marchite, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, told a Vatican press conference, “but nothing serious was delivered”.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, former head of the Pontifical Council, said in 2006 that his staff was preparing a “profound study”, and mentioned that Pope Benedict XVI had requested it during a private audience. The study, Cardinal Lozano said, would consider “both the scientific and technical aspects linked to the condom, as well as the moral implications in all their amplitude”.
In particular, the study was to look at whether it would be licit for couples united in sacramental marriage to use a condom to save a life. In 2006, Cardinal Lozano said the Holy Father had told him “it would be appropriate to talk about this subject” among competent persons of the Holy See. The cardinal added: “It is a question of examining scientifically and morally how things are.” But the project was unpopular within the Vatican and caused not a little annoyance as it gave the impression that the Church was wavering on her position. It’s also not clear whether it ever got off the ground and some critics have claimed the idea of an in-depth study was pushed forward by the cardinal with minimal backing from others in the Roman Curia.
Bishop Redrado said the study, which appears to have been more of a consultation, continues to be a possibility in the future. “It is in the air, a study is thought about and talked about, but we are not on that track at this time,” he said. But without the full support of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is unlikely, it’s doubtful the project will be undertaken. Although not definitively addressed by a pope, the Church’s teaching on this issue continues to be that condom-promotion programmes encourage promiscuity, thereby actually increasing STD transmission. Last March Benedict XVI reiterated that teaching to journalists on his way to Africa, saying that “one cannot overcome the problems [of Aids] with the distribution of prophylactics. On the contrary, they increase the problem.” The breakaway bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of Society of St Pius X, has said in a recent interview that reaching an agreement with the Church is not “humanly possible”, but that it is possible with the grace of God.
The Vatican and the SSPX are currently in talks to try to achieve reconciliation. Bishop Fellay stressed that, while discussion and debate are necessary, it is not enough. But he added: “Even if we face a difficult and contradictory reality, we know that events are in God’s hands, He who has the means to put things in order.” The Vatican remains cautiously hopeful about the outcome of the bi-monthly talks which are taking place in strict secrecy. One Vatican source noted when the talks began that the SSPX has been “playing Pharisee all along” but he hoped they would “eventually become humble”.