I ve written here often about the Archbishop of Canterbury s game-plan for saving the Anglican Communion known as the Covenant It is his response to the fallout over the 2004 consecration of Gene Robinson which saw the 70m-strong Anglican Church worldwide begin what has seemed at times an inexora

Yesterday s Vatican clarification -- one that quite exceptionally was made by its spokesman Fr Lombardi by reporting the Pope s answer to his question leaving no room for doubt nbsp -- is as Fr Jim says a gamechanger in Fr Tom Reese s words it blasts out of the water the notion that condom

This morning I e-mailed some questions to Father Matin Rhonheimer in Rome and received his kind reply a few minutes ago I asked him if Pope Benedict were aware of his controversial position on church teaching and the use of condoms in 2004 s Tablet He responds I published my article in The Tabl

Austen Ivereigh discussed this a few days ago but I suspect the import of it is getting a little lost in the media kerfluffle over the church s shocking about face on condoms My apologies to those who argue this is not new but seriously you ve got to be kidding at least insofar as how church

The previously out-of-bounds discussion about whether condoms can be used as a means to prevent the spread of disease is now in-bounds.