March 17, 2009

Pope: Condom Distribution “Aggravates” AIDS Epidemic

While in Cameroon, Pope Benedict XVI called the global AIDS epidemic “a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems,” The Daily Telegraph reports.

Africa is important to the Vatican because of its growing number of Catholics. In the next 15 years, about a sixth of the world’s Catholics are expected to be African. The continent also produces a large portion of the world’s Catholic priests.  

However, it also presents huge challenges for the Pope, including tension with Islam in some countries, competition from evangelical churches and opposition to the Catholic Church’s stance on condoms in countries where AIDS is rampant.

The Pope said that the Catholic Church is at the forefront of the battle against AIDS, advocating sexual abstinence if unmarried and fidelity within marriage as ways to fight the disease. Although Benedict’s trip includes only two of Africa’s more than 50 countries, he hopes his visit will “embrace the entire continent.”

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Previous Comments:

tf, , 2009-03-31 16:36:03
Who's the one out of touch?. Hmm... Dr Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies agrees with the Pope. Just look at the evidence. So much mis-education out there...sigh.

christopher, Seattle, 2009-03-26 16:07:43
I think the Pope's criticism of the use of condoms as an effective for of HIV prevention prooves that he is out of touch. It appears to me that, in his mind, it seems that if he can live without sex, so can we all. He has no worries about HIV.

Eliza, Augusta, 2009-03-26 13:07:25
Just another reason to stay FAR away from organized religion. benedict is ill-informed and uneducated, as is the rest of the catholic church--they are all stuck in the dark ages. If sex was only intended for procreation, why does it still feel so good when we are past the age of childbearing, hmmm?

Leon Anderson, Los Angeles, 2009-03-21 05:29:45
What's a Pope to do? He does something like, recognize the fact that there are 'bees and hives', but then denies them from making honey. The Church has been consistently 'underminded' by reality. The Holy fathers all suffer, eventually, from the same hereditary disease. Soon we will hear that the Pope has taken to his bed and it will be announced once again that "His Infallibility is delerious."

recovering catholic, alexandria va, 2009-03-19 23:56:34
I dont understand why anyone cares what the pope says.

Antonio, Commerce City, 2009-03-19 17:33:43
The pope should teach/preach abstinence to those in his watch who molest children throughout the world. Perhaps then his words would have merit. Until then they mean little or nothing.

Oliver T, Lisbon, 2009-03-19 15:24:00
I'm a cristian, no longer a catholic since this pope is leaving behind him a pool of fundamentalism, death and confusion among followers. God must have a point in this, surely to dismantle the machine that Rome is now, far from the erected stone by Peter, the Holy Church fouder. True love has nothing to do with this...This man has spend too much time doinf teology and paying to less atention to the world we live in. God bless us all, cause he can't!

Brother Toby McCarroll, Starcross, Annapolis CA, 2009-03-19 12:12:39
The Pope's statement against condom use will result in more needless tragedy and rejects the courageous work of many in fighting the pandemic. It is like stepping back 20 years. In Africa there has been a coming together of Catholics and Non Catholics on ABCD - Abstinence, if not then Being faithful, if not then Condom, if not then Death. The Pope's statements will further marginalize any role for the Vatican in the pandemic. Condoms are not birth control, they are death control.

MaryLou, Trenton, NJ, 2009-03-19 09:35:30
Just proves how out of touch the Pope is with real world problems... stay in the vatican and keep your mouth shut about that which you don't know.