The Pope: You Can Rubber Up After All

And are we supposed to be impressed by this?

Pope Benedict XVI has said the use of condoms is acceptable "in certain cases", according to a new book.

That's big of him. Nice to see that he is slowly taking into account the well-being of those who follow his persistent little cult.

He said condoms could reduce the risk of infection with HIV, such as for a prostitute, in a series of interviews he gave to a German journalist.

No shit Sherlock! I'm amazed - I am absolutely staggered - that his Popiness has only just worked out that there is a link between HIV and unprotected sex. He's stating what almost everyone with half a brain cell has known for decades.

I think we're supposed to see this as a real step forward for the Catholic Church, but the reality is that they are only slowly catching up with the rest of the modern world. And it is pretty repugnant to think of how many lives have been blighted by the Papal stance on contraceptives (and on child rape by priests, of course) over the years - any current half-hearted endorsement of condoms does not make up for the damage inflicted by the previous Papal position on this. This sort of thing only highlights how unrealistic and cruel the Catholic Church often is with its worship of dogmatism and a leadership detached from the rest of the world in a collection of palaces in Vatican City.