Donald wrote:Wait, what? I think you may have read some fake news. The ban on contraceptives goes back to a 50 year-old encyclical, "lifting the ban" is simply not possible for a single pope to accomplish.
Sorry, this isn't fake News, but I did get it wrong.
Some years ago there was a discussion on aids and condoms. The pops, Benedict, gave a confused statement saying it was more wrong to cause harm to another, as in the case of male prostitutes, in which case using a condom would be okay. Course pregnancy isn't an issue, but he made another claim that anyone could get condoms. Papers conflate the situation and reported a turn around in the papal position but the church later denied it. Bear in mind, there is a provision in the CC allowing people to "over ride" the papal decision if they are acting on the merit of conscious.
But this seems to be position on the virus, Zika:
Washington post, Feb 18, 2016 wrote:Pope Francis told reporters Thursday that using artificial contraception may be morally acceptable in fighting the Zika virus, but called abortion another situation entirely, akin to “what the Mafia does.”
“There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true" - Winston Churchill