Catholic moral theologians have been discussing for years the theory of what the Pope has now openly expressed in terms of accepting the lesser of two evils.
This means accepting the fact that condom use by prostitutes does lessen the risk of infection for both men and women.
There is some confusion about whether the Pope was referring to female or male prostitutes in his remarks - the word he used in the Italian version is ambiguous, but in English he talks about male prostitutes.
News of Pope Benedict's headline-grabbing remarks, first published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, on the acceptability of condom use in certain cases dropped at a completely unexpected moment at the Vatican on Saturday evening.
The Pope's remarks caught everyone by surprise.
Several thousand people were milling around reception rooms inside and outside the apostolic palace greeting 24 new cardinals to whom Pope Benedict had given their red hats earlier in the day.
It is an ancient tradition that the Pope throws open part of his palace inside the Vatican for two hours during the afternoon following a consistory to enable relatives and friends of the new princes of the Roman Catholic Church to exchange a few words with them as they stand proudly in their brand new red robes of office.
The news was so unexpected that seasoned Vatican observers are asking themselves whether there has not been yet another gaffe by Pope Benedict's public relations advisers.
The words of the Pope were published in the form of selected extracts without any special fanfare in an expanded weekend edition of the Vatican newspaper.
Almost the entire newspaper was devoted to the consistory and to the gathering of old and new cardinals of the Church from around the world who had been summoned to Rome for a closed door meeting the previous day.
Pope's Surprise Condoms Remark
Comments