The Church and Contraception

The Church is one of the fundamental icons of the religion of Christianity.

Contraception is a primal thing surrounding the fundamental needs of men and women - balancing out physical needs and the need for procreation.

And the relation between the Church and Contraception is something which needs to take giant steps forwards for ensuring a bright and a better world.

In my blog post - Ideas And Inventions Revolutionize Life - I discussed how the discovery of contraceptive measures and their effective usage has empowered generations of women and men.

For the sake of it's importance, its worth recollecting that the Birth Control Pill was labeled as the invention of the 20th century.

And in another blog post - HIV AIDS, The Church and Contraception - I reflected on the opinions of the Church on the matter of contraception.

The article said - and I quote below.

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The Church opposes contraception, because it believes it interferes with the creation of life.

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Read more on the blog post.

However, on Sunday 21st November 2010, the Church has taken a giant step in its opinion on contraception.

A snippet of that important thought is as below

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The new book - Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times - is based on a series of interview the Pope gave the German Catholic journalist, Peter Seewald, earlier this year.

When asked whether the Catholic Church was not opposed in principle to the use of condoms, the Pope replied: "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." 

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Net in net, the Pope has advocated the use of contraception on a case to case basis - to prevent the spread of HIV AIDS.

Although the guideline is immensely significant, I think we have a very long way to go before a complete advocacy is preached - considering the fact that Pope Benedict reiterated the Church's fundamental opposition to contraception.

Still, a step is a step - and it can only take the world forward.

The issue is of such importance that all the major websites are running full length articles on this matter on their front page.

Catch the BBC view here. And the CNN view here.

Needless to say, the Pope's comments were much welcomed by UNAIDS. They termed it as a "significant step forward". Catch the entire article here.