Condom Vending Machines in Schools Anger Vatican
March 11, 2010
The Associated Press is reporting that the recent decision by a high school in Keplero, Rome to place condom vending machines has raised the ire of the Catholic Church.
This is the first school in Italy to install vending machines carrying condoms in a school; other European countries including Belgium, Britian, Germany, France, and the Netherlands allow condom vending machines in their schools.
According to the article, France has condom vending in ninety-six percent of their public and private schools receiving public funding.
Opponents in Italy say that the installation of the machines will encourage youths to have sex. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the pope’s vicar for Rome, said the decision trivialized sex. He said it “cannot be approved by Rome’s ecclesiastical community or by Christian families who are seriously concerned with the education of their children.”
Despite protests from the Vatican, the school will proceed with installation of the condom machines at the school. “This is not about stimulating the use of condoms or intercourse,” Antonio Panaccione, the school headmaster, told The Associated Press. “On the contrary, it’s about prevention and education.”
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