What the Pope really said about AIDS and condoms

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Comments: 32

Pope Benedict XVI

Aboard the papal plane, Mar 18, 2009 / 11:35 am (CNA).- Yesterday the international media played host to a raft of experts railing against Pope Benedict’s brief words on the use of condoms in the fight against AIDS. However, the incident was the result of the Pope’s words being pulled from his defense of the Church’s personalistic approach to the AIDS crisis.

The vast majority of the Pope’s words were dedicated to explaining how the best response to AIDS is to promote a spiritual and human renewal of people’s understanding of sexuality and to be willing to live true sacrificial friendships with those who suffer from AIDS.

A full transcript of the exchange follows.

A journalist from French state TV asked Pope Benedict:

“Holy Father among the many evils that affect Africa there is also the particular problem of the the spread of AIDS. The position of the Catholic Church for fighting this evil is frequently considered unrealistic and ineffective.

“Will you address this issue during your trip? Holy Father, could you please respond in French to this question?” he asked.

Although the Pope responded to a previous question from the French newspaper La Croix in French, he gave this in-depth answer in Italian.

“I would say the opposite.”

"It is my belief that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is precisely the Catholic Church and her institutions. I think of the Community of Sant’ Egidio, which does so much, visibly and invisibly to fight AIDS, of the Camillians, of all the nuns that are at the service of the sick.

“I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome with advertising slogans. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem. The solution can only come through a twofold commitment: firstly, the humanization of sexuality, in other words a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; and secondly, true friendship, above all with those who are suffering, a readiness - even through personal sacrifice - to be present with those who suffer. And these are the factors that help and bring visible progress.

“Therefore, I would say that our double effort is to renew the human person internally, to give spiritual and human strength to a way of behaving that is just towards our own body and the other person’s body; and this capacity of suffering with those who suffer, to remain present in trying situations.

“I believe that this is the first response [to AIDS] and that this is what the Church does, and thus, she offers a great and important contribution. And we are grateful to those that do this.”

Comments: 32

Subscriber comments:

Published by: JRGRO
TX 03/26/2009 12:06 PM EST

Important Roman Catholic leaders such as the late Cardinal John O’Connor and Bishop James McHugh, who was a special advisor to the Holy See Mission at the United Nations, have frequently claimed that condoms are not effective in preventing AIDS. They argue that condoms should not be promoted as a way to fight AIDS because the virus that causes AIDS is small enough to pass through latex condoms, or that condoms have an unacceptably high “failure rate” (the frequency which condoms break or slip off), or that condoms are not reliable because they don’t prevent all sexually transmitted diseases. Such claims that condoms should not play an important role in halting the spread of HIV are unfounded, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and leading AIDS researchers.
FHI, notes that the report did not say that condoms do not work against STDs other than HIV, only that there is less data because these diseases have not been as extensively studied. Furthermore, “HIV is less easily transmitted and gonorrhea is more easily transmitted during unprotected coitus; thus the condom is more forgiving of imperfect use when it comes to HIV protection.” Cates concludes: “Deliberate attempts to characterize the evidence as demonstrating the ‘ineffectiveness of condoms’ constitute a misunderstanding of what the report states.

Published by: William M. Grothus
Bettendorf, Iowa, USA 03/24/2009 07:48 PM EST

This is a great example of the Spiritual Battle we are engaged in today. God and His Goodness and Commandments and in LOVE verses Man's desires. "For me and my household, we will obey the LORD." And the POPE, the Vicar of Christ, is my leader in Faith and Morals.
Amen

The media is evil today as they have not published the TRUTH especially since 1973. It will come back to haunt them as evil has no character. A good Christian and a good Catholic SHOULD have character and LOVE and this is exactly what evil hates. Protect your soul and keep your house in order and thus bring as many as you can with you into the Kingdom of God.

Thank you for this opportunity to stand up for my Faith and Love in Jesus Christ and His Church.

Published by: jim
portugal 03/24/2009 01:48 AM EST

On one side you have Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Obama, Warren Buffet, etc. and other powerful worldlings clamoring for condoms. On the other side you have the voice of Peter. Guess who will win in the long run.

Published by: Yury
Grodno, Belarus 03/23/2009 01:09 PM EST

With all my heart I support, you Pope Benedict the XVI in very hard minute of your service for the good of the Catholic Church and all people all over the world, especially your teaching against contraceptives. I very respect to you, my dear Father, that you don't fear in proclaiming the Truth. I supporting you in my prayers and my minds all the time.

Sincerely yours,
fr Yury (Belarus)

Published by: Monica P. Guzman
Spain 03/21/2009 05:56 PM EST

No lo puedo comprender, en un mundo en el que la mayoría de las mujeres no pueden decidir si quieren tener o no relaciones sexuales, menos aún cuando y solo las muy afortunadas deciden con quien...... el condon me parece esencial para evitar enfermedades, embarazos no deseados y sobre todo ABORTOS. No es preferible un millon de veces antes que un solo aborto toneladas de condones?

Published by: Michael
USA 03/19/2009 12:43 PM EST

When will the media publish the truth that condoms fail from 10-45% of the time only worsening the problem. The Holy Father said that, but the press refuses to research and report facts.

See under condom failures:
[The Love Matters website]

The discrepancy is at least a 10% failure rate per year use for couples in becoming pregnant whereas diseases are transmitted anytime, not just during ovulation as in pregnancy.

Published by: Dan in Calgary
Calgary Alberta Canada 03/19/2009 11:37 AM EST

Jack & Dina:

Your accusation against the Pope for criminal negligence for opposing use of condoms misses the point.

What about the criminality of all citizens and media who engage in or condone non-responsible sexual activity in the first place? We all know that it is a vector for serious disease. The Vatican isn't spreading disease with irresponsible sex; WE are, and the media is defending our self-delusional recklessness.

We have made so much progress in North America in changed attitudes toward driving while drunk, and we've almost criminalised smoking tobacco; can we not make progress on changing societal attitudes about unrestricted irresponsible sexual activity?

Dan in Calgary

Published by: Eileen
Largo,Fla,usa 03/19/2009 09:50 AM EST

Almighty God gave us the Commandments to live by. The Devil on the other hand will entice you to manipulate God's Will to die by. If you want to go to Heaven, you will choose the narrow path. Life is not without sacrifice and sometimes outright pain.

Published by: Michael Kirunga
Kampala, Uganda. 03/19/2009 09:16 AM EST

Love him or loath him, but what the Pope said is actually true. The best option in the fight against AIDS is abstinance and being faithful to your partner. Any other approach is a risk and any true Church cannot advocate for fornication or adultery with a condom. Secularism needs to realise that the Church focuses on souls firts and foremost.

Published by: Mary
Eire 03/19/2009 05:26 AM EST

I am very proud to be Catholic. The stance of the Holy Father is a righteous one. Condoms are contraceptives not a catch all solution to a mystery illness you should know your partner and know that your partner is healthy.

Published by: MJ
Edmonton 03/18/2009 10:34 PM EST

God forbid the Pope should be more concerned about the souls of the Africans than their bodies! He's the Pope, for crying out loud--that's his JOB!

Published by: Edward
Japan 03/18/2009 08:04 PM EST

The Pope tries to have people think beyond their sexual instincts. Isn't it too easy to simply let your best piece between your legs rule? But he represents a spiritual community that wants to sanctify humanity along God's commands.
How could he possibly compromise on Condoms? He is not a Politician who goes where the wind blows.

What many media don't understand:

We are not animals; we can chose to be like animals when we try to follow and express our instincts only, like animals actually do and this is, btw, their religious vocation; but only humans can grow beyond instincts.
I have never seen dogs flying to the moon, for example. Only we can, and it makes the whole difference!

The Pope tries to shows us the dimension beyond instincts, the road to human freedom and dignity, and he does this very convincingly. A great man, this Pope!

Published by: KJJ
Denver, CO USA 03/18/2009 05:28 PM EST

See also the April 3 2008 CNA story "Abstinence and fidelity programs effective in preventing spread of AIDS, congressman says"

www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12226

Published by: sue
toledo,oh usa 03/18/2009 05:05 PM EST

I am in support of Pope Benedict. Condoms are not the answer. Monogomy and abstinence are.The incompetant media screwed up again-like they have for the last 4 years. The verbal attacks on the Pope are not justified. Long live and God Bless the Holy Father!

Published by: courtney
Houston, TX 03/18/2009 04:46 PM EST

As all commercials on television state, condoms do not completely protect against HIV and AIDS. Accordingly, abstinence is the only true answer for 100% avoidance of sexually transmitted diseases.
Once again, you can't always have your cake and eat it too. Humans CAN control our desires and we must, if not for the (further) detriment of our society.
By God's grace, I am a proud Catholic who -without reservation - backs the Church's teaching on contraception.

Published by: Chris
Buffalo, NY USA 03/18/2009 04:29 PM EST

Let's see, the Catholic church is against sex outside of marraige and the use of artificial birth control. So, the Pope is really going to set aside those beliefs and promote the distribution of condoms in Africa? Dinah Fox & Robert Jones, how does this make any sense to you? Did you even read what you wrote? Do you even understand the Church's teachings on these issues? You may not agree with these teachings, but can you really expect the Pope to go against them?

Published by: KJJ
Denver, CO USA 03/18/2009 03:57 PM EST

People who think Pope Benedict is unscientific and dead wrong need to read "AIDS and the Churches: Getting the Story Right"
by Edward C. Green and Allison Herling Ruark in the April 2008 edition of First Things.

Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, notes that discouraging premarital sex and reducing concurrent sexual partners, not condom distribution, is the effective answer to heterosexual spread of HIV:

"In every African country in which HIV infections have declined, this decline has been associated with a decrease in the proportion of men and women reporting more than one sex partner over the course of a year—which is exactly what fidelity programs promote. The same association with HIV decline cannot be said for condom use, coverage of HIV testing, treatment for curable sexually transmitted infections, provision of antiretroviral drugs, or any other intervention or behavior. The other behavior that has often been associated with a decline in HIV prevalence is a decrease in premarital sex among young people."

Condom distribution may be somewhat effective in small high risk groups like prostitutes and homosexuals but not in the general population.

International AIDS activists tend to be homosexuals or their friends, so they impose this incorrect understanding of AIDS transmission onto Africa.

Published by: roberta
USA 03/18/2009 03:50 PM EST

Why is the Pope blamed for putting women and children at risk if he does not recommend condoms?
Whose responsibility is it when someone engages in risky sexual behavior? Is the blame not to be put on the one who engages in the behavior and then puts his wife at risk?

Published by: linda
England 03/18/2009 03:39 PM EST

AIDS is spread by promiscuous sexual behaviour. Condoms promote promiscuity by creating a false sense of sequrity. Therefore condoms increase the spread of AIDS

The Catholic Church cannot support the use of condoms ever and must never bow to the secular agenda - no matter how much they shriek and wail!! Who will protect us from the evil machinations of the secular world if the Church doesn't?!

Published by: Bob P.
Rock Springs, WI 03/18/2009 02:47 PM EST

Notice how the media lurks like vultures to find something to attack the Pope for. They are unable to understand true virtue and true wisdom. Then notice how the media lets off the hook ignorant secular leaders, like the Clintons, Obama, Pelosi, etc. Bill Clinton recently said no less than six times in an interview with Dr. Sanjay that as long as embryos weren't fertilized, it was okay to use them for research. Not once did Sanjay correct Clinton on this incedredible mistake.

Published by: Jim Marsico
Cody Wyoming 03/18/2009 02:43 PM EST

I also support the Pope's comments. The world needs at least one leader that says what he means and means what he says.

Published by: Volubrjotr
St Paul, Mn USA 03/18/2009 02:28 PM EST

The Holy Father is against condoms, clarification is already there.

Condom mentality already perpetuates non-monogamous copulation which is a sin.

If everyone was monogamous/married as our Lord taught us, we would not have this Pandora's box.

Therefore everything the Holy Father has said is consistent with Our Lord. Hearts must change before people can... condoms is like a bandaid for a cut artery...they do not work!

Already there is a plethora of condoms out there and if it work we would not see New York/Washington DC in the Pandemic stages or our schools in the Pandemic stages of genital herpes.

This Pandemic is not happening because the Catholic Church calls its people to monogamy/marriage, its happening because of the artificial sense of safety which then increases the activity, which increase breaking the thresh-hold of reasonable risk behavior.

Published by: Stats
Seattle, WA, USA 03/18/2009 01:57 PM EST

Claiming that condom use exacerbates the AIDS epidemic is patently false. Based on several medical studies, your chances of contracting AIDS are about 1/500 in a single sexual encounter with a high-risk individual; this chance drops to 1/5000 with a condom.

To put it another way, you have a 50% chance of contracting AIDS if you have unsafe sex with a high-risk person once a day for nearly a year. With a condom, it takes 10 YEARS of sex every day to have the same 50% chance.

No one is trying to say condoms are the one and only answer, but they are an incredibly important part of the solution; any attempt to discourage use only exacerbates the problem!

Published by: tom f
Roswell, GA 03/18/2009 01:56 PM EST

Excuse me, is this a Catholic news service. Do any Catholics read this? Do any Catholics understand Catholic teaching any more be it on sexual intercourse, birth control or condoms? If you understand that then you understand that condoms are not to be used under any circumstances. End of story. Get some good catechism so-called Catholics out there!

Published by: Rich Newhouse
Phoenix,Az. USA 03/18/2009 01:52 PM EST

The statistics are available. Where abstinence and fidelity are taught the aids incidence declines significantly.Word manipulation does not change reality.

Published by: Daphne McLeod
Leatherhead U.K. 03/18/2009 01:41 PM EST

The Pope is right to warn people about condoms.All the evidence shows they do not protect people from HIV/AIDS as well as chastity and then faithfulness to a chaste spouse do. So folow Church teaching and you are safe.

Published by: leigh
bham,alabama 03/18/2009 01:41 PM EST

dinah,
please explain how the pope is putting children and women at risk? Do you really think the men they are coming in contact with care about using a condom. Obviously not. If they have no voice, how would his endorsement of condoms help them - the women. the only way voiceless women will be helped is when men have a conversion of heart and see them(women) as a human being instead of a sex object put on this earth for their pleasure. condoms are available there now anyway. have they helped? Apparently not.

Published by: OJ
Navarre, Florida 03/18/2009 01:35 PM EST

The Holy Father is right on. Our problems in the U.S. with the economy, morality, sexuality, is that we keep pushing down the bar, rewarding failure or wrong action, and distancing ourselves from God. We are on a steep declivity that can only be stopped by the formula given by the Vicar of Christ.
We nee to have faith in God...and BTW in people.

Published by: Robert Jones
Boston, MA 03/18/2009 01:04 PM EST

Rate: Regular

Do you think the Pope will issue a clarification that he is not against the use of condoms, but is only warning that they cannot be a solution in the absence of such a "twofold commitment?"

If his position is really along those lines, then this has been a miscommunication at least as bad as his remarks on the Islamic faith some years ago.

Published by: Jack
Canada 03/18/2009 12:20 PM EST

Rate: Excellent

The media routinely, mis-report, skew, exaggerate, and introduce conflict where none exists in order to sell stories. Attacking truth is the most solemn duty required of them by their lord.

Published by: dinah fox
chicago 03/18/2009 12:06 PM EST

Rate: Regular

The pope is putting women and children especially at risk in an area where they already have no voice. Yes, add humanity and friendship -- those are great things, no dispute -- but it is criminal not to include condoms in the equation.

Published by: Jose
Naperville, IL - USA 03/18/2009 12:02 PM EST

Rate: Very Good

I am in support and agreement with the Holy Father and it is sad the vicious attacks and distortions of the teaching of the Church by secular media.

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