Chicago Tribune Profiles Work of South African Catholic Bishop Who Promotes Condom Use

The Chicago Tribune on Friday profiled South African Bishop Kevin Dowling, who believes that condoms "are a key to saving lives," even though the Catholic Church bans the use of contraceptives. Dowling works in a poor area of South Africa outside of Rustenburg, west of Pretoria, where many women engage in commercial sex work in order to feed themselves and their children. "For me, the issue is simply this: How do you preserve and protect life?" he said, adding that he believes condoms are "a pro-life option in the widest sense." Dowling said that the Vatican's "continuing rejection of condoms reflects a lack of firsthand experience with the AIDS epidemic and an inherent conservatism that makes questioning old doctrine unsettling," the Tribune reports. The Vatican's official representative in South Africa has said Dowling's views are "unacceptable," but the church has taken no action against him, according to the Tribune (Goering, Chicago Tribune, 11/4).