ISSUES: Pope Says Condoms Are Sometimes OK.... for male prostitutes!

Pope Benedict—he who not too long ago said condoms make the AIDS crisis worse—now thinks they're not such a bad idea all the time. ("Stunning development," says AP, noting the church's opposition to artificial contraception, while Reuters sees it as a potential "sea change" in Vatican thinking.) In a series of interviews with a German journalist, Benedict gives an example of a prostitute—the AP specifies it as a male prostitute—using one to prevent infection.

"Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?" asks the journalist. "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 humane way, of living sexuality." The interviews are part of a book coming out next week, and the Vatican newspaper published excerpts today