What’s the new pope’s take on condom use?
Apr 25, 2005
Some people expect the new Pope, Benedict XVI, to make reforms in the Catholic Church, which include allowing the use of condoms especially in the global fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge.
Stewart Mutabazi
Some people expect the new Pope, Benedict XVI, to make reforms in the Catholic Church, which include allowing the use of condoms especially in the global fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge.
I am neither Catholic nor a born-again Christian, but I would not expect the new Pope to deviate from the principles that Pope John Paul II upheld. Such a decision would ultimately compromise the Church’s position with regard to, first, the Bible teaching, and secondly to the moral behaviour of its people, which the Church strives to protect and uphold.
The Catholic church would not want to injure its spiritual and social uprightness by allowing people to be at liberty to sin. The Church’s objective is to encourage the believers to resist corrupt tendencies and achieve authentic human life.
For the Catholic church to allow use of condoms is to give a blank cheque to its members to have sex whenever they feel like doing so. This may include those who are not yet married because they will say they can not stay without sex.
Although it is evident that condoms have played a big role in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the Church is right to stick to its rules and doctrines. There is no short cut to spirituality. One has to either accept to live according to the teachings of Jesus or be regarded as a sinner.
It is also true some few people have consistently adhered to the rules of the Church and have either abstained or been faithful to their partners. To this category the Church feels it has lived up to its duty and through inspiration from such committed followers, the Church hopes to win more souls by encouraging more believers to abstain or remain faithful to their partners.
Those who have been calling for an embrace of condom use think the Church has the same agenda as the civil society or the State. This is wrong. Although the Church has a duty to ensure harmony, peace, good health, and general development for the people, it has a cardinal role to win as many souls to God as possible, who would finally qualify to go to Heaven.
It is automatic, therefore, that if the Church condoned condom use, it would have forthrightly condemned its followers to hell because fornication or adultery are some of the wrongs Christianity abhors.
Whereas the State protects and promotes the welfare of its citizens through laws and legislation, the Church does the same through preaching the word of God, which is basically summarised in the 10 Commandments in the Holy Bible.
By expecting the Church to relax the rules in these 10 Commandments, which include not engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse, the Church would be rewriting the Bible which God himself warned against in Revelations, which says that nobody should add or subtract any thing from the Bible
Nevertheless there is one thing, which, in my view, the Catholic church should seriously consider — allowing its priests and nuns to marry. It is common knowledge many Catholic priests engage in secret affairs with either the nuns or their parishioners. I do not condemn them because I know they are only doing what is human.
The law of Celibacy is man-made, not from God-made. The decision to marry or not to should be left entirely to an individual.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, says they are at liberty to choose to marry or otherwise but he counsels them that they can serve God better when they are not married. Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that one should not marry!
The writer is a human rights activist
Some people expect the new Pope, Benedict XVI, to make reforms in the Catholic Church, which include allowing the use of condoms especially in the global fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge.
I am neither Catholic nor a born-again Christian, but I would not expect the new Pope to deviate from the principles that Pope John Paul II upheld. Such a decision would ultimately compromise the Church’s position with regard to, first, the Bible teaching, and secondly to the moral behaviour of its people, which the Church strives to protect and uphold.
The Catholic church would not want to injure its spiritual and social uprightness by allowing people to be at liberty to sin. The Church’s objective is to encourage the believers to resist corrupt tendencies and achieve authentic human life.
For the Catholic church to allow use of condoms is to give a blank cheque to its members to have sex whenever they feel like doing so. This may include those who are not yet married because they will say they can not stay without sex.
Although it is evident that condoms have played a big role in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the Church is right to stick to its rules and doctrines. There is no short cut to spirituality. One has to either accept to live according to the teachings of Jesus or be regarded as a sinner.
It is also true some few people have consistently adhered to the rules of the Church and have either abstained or been faithful to their partners. To this category the Church feels it has lived up to its duty and through inspiration from such committed followers, the Church hopes to win more souls by encouraging more believers to abstain or remain faithful to their partners.
Those who have been calling for an embrace of condom use think the Church has the same agenda as the civil society or the State. This is wrong. Although the Church has a duty to ensure harmony, peace, good health, and general development for the people, it has a cardinal role to win as many souls to God as possible, who would finally qualify to go to Heaven.
It is automatic, therefore, that if the Church condoned condom use, it would have forthrightly condemned its followers to hell because fornication or adultery are some of the wrongs Christianity abhors.
Whereas the State protects and promotes the welfare of its citizens through laws and legislation, the Church does the same through preaching the word of God, which is basically summarised in the 10 Commandments in the Holy Bible.
By expecting the Church to relax the rules in these 10 Commandments, which include not engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse, the Church would be rewriting the Bible which God himself warned against in Revelations, which says that nobody should add or subtract any thing from the Bible
Nevertheless there is one thing, which, in my view, the Catholic church should seriously consider — allowing its priests and nuns to marry. It is common knowledge many Catholic priests engage in secret affairs with either the nuns or their parishioners. I do not condemn them because I know they are only doing what is human.
The law of Celibacy is man-made, not from God-made. The decision to marry or not to should be left entirely to an individual.
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, says they are at liberty to choose to marry or otherwise but he counsels them that they can serve God better when they are not married. Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that one should not marry!
The writer is a human rights activist