Vaticanology

So, Pope Benedict XVI has now issued a tepid statement saying that gay male prostitutes might be able to use condoms, under certain special circumstances, because there is no possibility of procreation:

The Vatican today rushed out a "clarification" of the pope's remarks on the use of condoms, reported in a book to be published this week, insisting he had "not reformed or changed the [Roman Catholic] church's teaching".

But the statement made clear that Pope Benedict XVI was prepared to consider the use of condoms in certain, limited circumstances.

And now we are seeing the walk-back from this, so I am uncertain if this is a real initiative, or one of those cases a game of academic what-if-ing is taken as something more.

So, it's either significant, or it isn't.