Safe Sin

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 15, 2004

One morning you meet Red Eye, the HIV-positive Rastafarian and male prostitute who works out of the Irving Park El station, on his way over to beat up the parish priest for giving him a bad check. You demur, citing perhaps Inter Mirifica, but he persists. What's the morally appropriate Christian response? Well, if you're Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, you tell Red Eye he needs to don latex gloves before punching Father's teeth down his throat. Failure to do so would risk AIDS transmission and be a sin against the Fifth Commandment ("want anders voegt hij aan een zonde ... tegen het vijfde"). At least that's how I understand the interview His Eminence gave last Sunday.