Catholic Church Mulls Excommunication of Philippine President for Distributing Condoms

The head of the Phillippines' Catholic bishops says that while excommunicating that coutnry's president remains "a possibility," the church prefers to open "a dialogue" over the distribution of condoms.

Anti-gay religious site LifeSiteNews reported on Oct. 14 that the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Phillippines told Radio Veritas that there was no immediate prospect for the country's head, Benigno Aquino, being stripped of his membership in the church for providing condoms.

"That is a possibility, but I don't see right now that it is a proximate possibility," said Bishop Nereo Odchimar. "The CBCP issued an open letter stating our position that there should be a dialogue," Odchimar continued. "We do not have any feelers. We don't want to be confrontational. We want a dialogue. We are just waiting."

The bishop went on to say, "We will exhaust all means before coming to a point of confrontation."

The head of the Catholic Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, Fr. Melvin Castro, condemned the Phillippine government's plan to provide condoms to couples upon request as a manifestation of "the culture of death," LifeSiteNews reported.

"We are not accusing anyone," said Castro. "We respect the leaders of our government, that's why we pray for them. But what the poor need are jobs and education opportunities, not artificial contraceptives." Castro added, "We are not fighting the government. What we are opposed to is a culture, a lifestyle--the culture of death."

The Catholic Church holds that the use of condoms is immoral because it prevents contraception from occurring. The church also teaches that the availability of condoms encourages sexual promiscuity, for which reason the church does not approve of condom use even for the purpose of reducing HIV transmission.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI sparked controversy in 2009 by insisting that condoms should not be distributed in Africa as a means of fighting AIDS. The pontiff told the media that condom distribution in AIDS-stricken countries only serves to "aggravate" the epidemic.

British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported on Mar. 17, 2009, that while on his way to Africa, Behnedict XVI called the AIDS crisis "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems."

"They talk about informed choice, but do they inform the public about the side effects of these contraceptives?" Castro told the media, speaking of the government plan in the Philippines to make condoms available. "What these contraceptives undermine is the Filipino family and the people's faith."

Odchimar said that President Aquino is obligated to take the church's teachings into consideration when formulating public policy, "because we are approaching this issue from the moral aspect, like the unborn." The bishop added, "Abortion is a grave crime; excommunication is attached to this. That is an issue of gravity, that is violation of God's commandment."

The Phillippines is heavily Catholic, a Wikipedia article says, following only Brazil and Mexico in terms of the percentage of its population that belong to the church.