Incremental Steps

"Even this narrow exception of condom use, however, is an acknowledgment by the pope that the journey to holiness is usually a long-term process...[I]ncremental steps, which may or may not withstand moral scrutiny on their own, can reflect long-term moral growth in the context of a greater path to holiness." ~John Mattras, of Busted Halo (my emphasis)

Pope Benedict XVI's comments on condoms and AIDS have been all over the news, overshadowing anything else he spoke about in his recently released interview-book. Here is the official news from the Vatican on that book. If you've been anywhere near the internet for the past three or four days, you have heard the uproar from all sorts of people in all sorts of forums. The Busted Halo article on the subject talks about gradations of morality -- that some sins are graver than others -- which stays in line with Catholic teachings. If you want a more official perspective, the Vatican clarified what the Pope meant. And did it again, in a shorter form, if you don't have much of an attention span.

From what I understand, nothing the Pope said is horribly revolutionary, though it certainly is a new addition to the conversation about AIDS. As I commented yesterday, society likes to lose track of what things are. A condom is not objectively evil. A condom is a thing. Things in and of themselves have no moral weight. The way in which something is used has moral weight. Now the Pope distinguishes between manners of using things and surprises everyone, because even most Catholics have come to think that condoms are evil.