Pope rejects condom use in Africa

[David Guyatt]

Sure, AIDS kills them in their millions so why do anything simple to stop that?

But our dear Panzer favours abstinence as the answer.

Is that the same sort of abstinence favoured by 30% plus Catholic priests who like to "pet" little boys in their choir gowns. Or is that a different sort of abstinence?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7947460.stm

Pope rejects condom use in Africa


stiff arm salute from der Horst Wessel Panzer?

Pope Benedict XVI has said that handing out condoms is not the answer in the fight against HIV/Aids, as he makes his first visit to Africa as pontiff.

Speaking en route to Cameroon, he said distribution of condoms "increases the problem". The Vatican urges abstinence.

The Pope will also visit Angola on his week-long trip, where thousands are expected to attend open-air masses.

According to Vatican figures, the number of Catholics in Africa has been rising steadily in recent years.

Baptised Catholics made up 17% of the African population in 2006, compared with 12% in 1978, the Vatican says.

Pope Benedict said on the eve of his trip that he wanted to wrap his arms around the entire continent, with "its painful wounds, its enormous potential and hopes".

Speaking to reporters on his way to Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, the Pope said HIV/Aids was "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem".

The solution lies in a "spiritual and human awakening" and "friendship for those who suffer", the AFP news agency quotes him as saying.

While in Africa, the pontiff is expected to talk to young people about the Aids epidemic and explain to them why the Catholic Church recommends sexual abstinence as the best way to prevent the spread of the disease.

He gave a similar message to African bishops who visited the Vatican in 2005, when he told them that abstinence and fidelity, not condoms, were the means to tackle the epidemic.

The BBC's Caroline Duffield, in Cameroon, says people in Yaounde are energetically sweeping and cleaning everywhere in preparation for Pope Benedict's visit.

The Pope will stay in Yaounde until Friday, where he will meet bishops from all over Africa who will be taking part in a meeting at the Vatican later this year to discuss the Church's role in Africa.

In Angola, which is still recovering from 27 years of civil war, Pope Benedict will meet diplomats posted in Luanda and is expected to urge the international community not to abandon Africa.

The pontiff is also due to hold private talks with political leaders in the two countries, both of which have been accused of corruption and squandering revenues from natural resources.

Speaking to pilgrims in St Peter's Square before setting out on his journey, the Pope said he wanted to reach out to the victims of hunger, disease, injustice, fratricidal conflicts and the violence afflicting adults and children alike in most parts of Africa.

[Peter Lemkin]

That's what I like about the RCC - they are so Moderne and 'up with the times', so in tune with the needs of the people, Even dress in the latest duds. Two thousand year old thinking - that was conservative when started. Jesus was a radical; a revolutionary. Christo should put a giant condom over the obelesk at the Vatican. They helped the Nazis to a large extent and now this....and much in between. Organized Religion is often organized crime. Hope I'm not offending anyone.

[Myra Bronstein]

...Organized Religion is often organized crime. Hope I'm not offending anyone.

Not me. I got no quibble with your statement of fact.

[David Guyatt]

Their history over recent decades is very unsavoury, bordering on evil.

Their role in setting up and managing the Ratlines for the allies after WWII. Their involvement in the Banco Ambrosiano affair, their involvement in numerous other illegal financial scams and mafia types --- and far right types who were members of the shadowy P2 lodge. Their involvement with the CIA in the Polish dockyards (Solidarity, Lech Walenska etc). The list is large and this enumeration of it small.

These are all activities of of a "deep" state and not a religious entity. I personally have no problem with the Catholic Church per se (or other churches for that), but I very often do have problems with the Vatican itself. I treat the Church and the Holy See as two entirely different entities.