But I am a positive person – or I strive to be. So let me say this. Waiting 25 years sucks, but waiting 26 or 27 or 30 years would be even worse. Saving lives from “now” is always better than saving lives from sometime in the future. So good for him.
And Pope Benedict XVI, in saying that condom use saves lives even with male prostitutes, makes the unstated assumption that the lives of gay people are also worth saving. And there are plenty of people and religions that believe gay people are inherently evil. And they should be put to death. So let us not underestimate the Pope’s comments.
Finally, as we have seen from the US Bishops response, this wasn’t an easy path. There is a lot of push back against this statement. Approving condom use is something that Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles said years ago. But the difference between Cardinal Roger Mahoney in Los Angeles, even though this is the largest US Catholic group (I can’t figure out how to spell diasocies) and the Pope saying this is HUGE. Particularly this Pope – who is not lovable curmudgeon like JP2 (who was so hip he had a nickname).
