www.catholicsforchoice.org - bishopssupportcondoms
Some excerpts:
In an interview with the New York Times, South African bishop Kevin Dowling says: "I believe condoms need to be debated, and I believe theologically their use can be justified, to prevent the transmission of a death-dealing virus…. I see these young women and their babies, and the desperation and the suffering, and I think, 'What would Jesus want?' There's no way he could condemn someone like this."
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, Mexico
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, a Mexican who heads the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, says that while he opposes the distribution of condoms, because he believes it institutionalizes promiscuity, he finds the use of condoms acceptable when abstinence is not an option. "If an infected husband wants to have sex with his wife who isn't infected, then she must defend herself by whatever means necessary," he says. This position, Barragán said, is consistent with the tenets of Catholic moral theology, which teaches that acts of self-defense can extend to killing in order to not be killed. "If a wife can defend herself from having sex by whatever means necessary, why not with a condom?"
Senior Vatican official Cardinal Georges Cottier, theologian of the pontifical household, tells news agency Apcom that while condoms cannot be condoned as a contraceptive, "The use of condoms in some situations can be considered morally legitimate" to prevent the spread of HIV. Cardinal Cottier explains that because "the virus is transmitted during a sexual act; so at the same time as (bringing) life there is also a risk of transmitting death. And that is where the commandment 'thou shalt not kill' is valid."
