by the Way . . .

The Roman Catholic Church has never condoned the use of condoms, and is the Pope Catholic? There was that riff from Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini, the retired archbishop of Milan, who commented that condoms could be a “lesser evil” when used in context of marriage to prevent HIV. Then Javier Lozano Cardinal Barragan, who heads a Vatican health committee, blurted that his committed was working on a report that would “reconsider” the church’s stance.

No way, Jose. Barragan had to do a quick Galileo. He said it was just an internal study, and it hadn’t moved. Not that the Pope doesn’t see the problem. He suggested chastity. See this discussion of whether the act, when without procreative or unitive significance, is intrinsically evil or merely suboptimal.