The Pseudo-Condom Conundrum

All the liberal press and progressive media are in a state of ecstatic elation over what they think is a major capitulation on the part of the Holy Father regarding the usage of condoms.  As is to be suspected, some remarks of his were clearly taken out of context (perhaps deliberately) so that the libertines of our culture could further justify their perverted lusts.  They're all atwitter over alleged acknowledgement of the use of condoms by male prostitutes.

Catholic World Report gives the complete context of the Pope's remarks, which were really a small part of an interview that he granted.  I'll quote below from Chapter 11 of "Light of the World", also found on Catholic World Report.

The Pope - "This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.  There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality."
Seewald - "Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?"
The Pope - "She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."

My!  Isn't it enlightening to read things in their true context?  What I put in bold above is the tiny fraction that the progressives are blowing out of proportion.  He isn't justifying the use of condoms at all; he merely sees its use as an acknowledgement of the dangers of sodomy. 

As an analogous situation, I am reminded of a certain abortionist's story of how she left the lifestyle of an abortionist to become a committed Christian.  For her, the journey began slowly.  She was confronted with an underage girl who wanted an abortion at one of her mills.  At that time, grace was beginning to work in her and she was uneasy with this young lady patronizing her business.  She pulled the young girl into her office and told her that she didn't think abortion was in her best interests.  Everett did not allow that abortion to occur.  Now to be sure, this woman allowed other abortions to occur that day.  However, as she began taking these sorts of "first steps" about which the Pope spoke, the light shone ever more brightly and she left the abortion business altogether.  The one act of stopping the young girl's abortion was not a justification for the abortions that occurred.  The (now former) abortionist didn't practice virtue on that occasion; she refrained from sin and committing more damage.  It would have been no solution to continue in the abortion business.  What the Pope said is that condoms are no solution, but may be a manifestation of an awareness of the inherent harm of the gay lifestyle.

For more detailed clarification, and another analogy, see this article from Renew America.