For decades now, the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church on things like birth control, pre-marital sex and abortion have been falling among thorns in the developed world. As a result, millions of Catholics remain affiliated with the church in name only. And of course millions more have become disaffected in recent years because of the church’s sex abuse scandals.
In the meantime, however, Catholic missionaries have been sowing seeds with these teachings on fertile ground throughout the developing world. And as a result, they have grown more than enough zealous converts to compensate.
Of course nowhere has the ground proved more fertile than in Africa, where the Catholic Church is experiencing unprecedented and unparalleled growth. Therefore, it is no surprise that Pope Benedict XVI felt obliged to make his first papal visit there last week.
But the Pope may have undermined this growth with the doctrinaire pronouncement he made on condoms and HIV/AIDs on the eve of his trip:
Traditional teaching of the Church on chastity outside marriage and fidelity within it had proved to be the only sure way of preventing the spread of HIV and Aids…. [Aids] cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem.
However, with all due respect to the quixotic notion of papal infallibility, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other medical institutions have published scientific studies which show that “correct and consistent use of condoms reduces the risk of HIV by 90 per cent.”
The male latex condom is the single, most efficient, available technology to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV.
(UNAIDS, the UN umbrella group fight the global AIDS pandemic)
Moreover, given how many African countries have implemented aggressive condom distribution programs to combat HIV/AIDS, this pronouncement by the Pope will probably cause as much moral conflict amongst Africans as the pronouncement by his predecessors on birth control caused amongst Americans.
For example, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni proudly credits his “ABC” program, which counsels Ugandans to Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms, for saving thousands of lives and reducing levels of HIV infections significantly. Now one wonders how many Ugandans will continue to practice all of their ABCs.
Frankly, the Pope’s prescription for preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS is probably even less effective than the beetroot and garlic concoction South African health officials were hawking a few years ago, which was condemned more in Africa than in any other region of the world as irresponsible and dangerous.
Then there’s the outrage the Pope’s pronouncement has incited amongst health workers and AIDS experts who have been touting condom use as a veritable panacea in the fight against the spread of this deadly virus. But the Pope has incited outrage amongst them not just because his prescription is so ineffective; rather it’s because the religious devotion he inspires (especially amongst Africans) makes it so deadly.
Indeed, the irony is that the Pope is preaching a message that (he thinks) might save many African souls but adherence to it is bound to cause many people to die; not least because millions of HIV-positive men will now claim Papal authority to infect their wives (and lovers).
NOTE: According to the UNAIDS 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic, 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV. Over 20 million have already died….
Related commentaries:
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JSM Real Estate says
I would suggest we leave the British Government alone, let them do what they suppose to do as a parent to the TCI. What happens with childern when they cannot behave themselves in the home parents purnish them.
We here in the TCI was under heavy pressure and bondage from the PNP Government, we cry out to our mother country to free us, so please allow them to free us. I am happy that they rescued us from them greedy, heartless so call pokliticians only looked out for themselves and their immediate families,. there are lots of TCI here are in desperate need of the essential basic things of life that will cause them to live or survive. Believe me we have a lot of our own people who are living just like the underprivilige folks in the south. There was never equality here in this country under the PNP Government.
Thank Goid for the British our mother country allow them to take over and help us get out of this mess we are in. The greedy and power hungry politicians are seeking for freedom from under the British because they want to have their own way with us, they will only purnish us more than we experience before.
This is one TCI crying out to the British to please dont leave us in the hands of the politicians. I wish the Governor could read this so he would know just how we feel.