[2] Gradualism recognizes elements of good in what on the whole is blameworthy, so as to encourage steps towards greater perfection, instead of simply chastising people for their mistakes.
"[7] In his apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio of 1981, Pope John Paul II declared: "What is needed is a continuous, permanent conversion" that "is brought about concretely in steps which lead us ever forward.
[8] Writing on L'Osservatore Romano about the 1986 letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the pastoral care of homosexual persons, Bartholomew Kiely stated: "The 'law of gradualness' implies that when there exists a genuine (unfeigned) weakness in following a moral norm, the person is obliged to 'endeavour to place [or establish] the conditions for its observance' (Familiaris consortio, 34, par.
In other words, a person must be protected from discouragement even if the journey towards a life of Christian chastity involves special difficulties and is accompanied by repeated failures.
[5] And in guidelines for confessors in 1997, the Pontifical Council for the Family stated that they should not be led by the law of gradualness to give people the impression that repentance does not require a decisive break with sin.
[1][4] While the Catholic Church opposes the use of artificial contraceptives, Pope Benedict XVI said that, when a prostitute uses a condom to help stop the spread of AIDS, it could be "a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.