A Mexican bishop, following what appeared to be the lead of the Spanish bishops, has said that the use of condoms could be permissible in the fight against AIDS. The use of condoms, what one anonymous Vatican wag called United Nations latex roulette, has become the flashpoint in the ongoing battle between UN-sponsored aid agencies and organizations funded by the Catholic Church.
Bishop Felipe Arizmendi said at a news conference that condom use should be tolerated as a “lesser evil.” However, Arizmendi’s statement, which closely follows that of other churchmen attempting to soften their image in the international press, is in direct contradiction of the Catholic teaching.
In 1968, in answer to the advent of chemical contraceptives, Pope Paul VI issued one of the most controversial encyclicals in modern times, Humanae Vitae, in which he apparently anticipated such dissent. Humanae Vitae says, “Neither is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one.”
Arizmendi, bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, said, “We know how to respect the decisions of people, in such a way that if someone is incapable of controlling their instincts, is not developed in their personality, then they should use whatever is necessary in order not to infect others and not to infect themselves, because for these types of people there is no other alternative.”
Roberto Blancarte, a professor of sociology and religion at El Colegio de Mexico suggests that most Catholic prelates, even those considered ‘conservative’ now see their chance to openly dissent in the waning days of the Pontificate of John Paul II. “These bishops in general are quite conservative, but they live within an overall society, and Spanish society is much more liberal than they are.”