The Lutheran bishop of Oslo shows an amazing lack of grasp of Catholic teaching as he condemns the Church’s stance against condoms. Speaking in South Africa, Gunnar Stalsett says that since Pope John Paul changed the Church’s traditional teaching on the death penalty in 1999, he should do so with the teaching on artificial contraception. Of course, the Pope did not change the Church’s teaching, but noted that the teaching is that the death penalty is for use when society has no other means to defend itself against the criminal and in most cases in the modern world, life imprisonment should be able to accomplish that.
On the other hand, the Church’s teaching on artificial contraception is different and is a clear and unequivocal directive that use of condoms, within marriage or without, is immoral. There is no valid exception to the rule.
