It's Not the Pope That Doesn't Get It - It's the Media

The other day on his journey down to Africa Papa Benedetto was asked about the Catholic Church's approach to HIV/AIDS, which is considered by some as unrealistic and ineffective. His response:

"It is my belief believe that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is in fact the Catholic Church and her institutions. ... The problem of HIV/AIDS cannot be overcome with mere 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 humanisation 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 the suffering, a readiness - even through personal sacrifice - to stand by those who suffer".

Of course there has been an uproar. What they won't admit is that under the name of compassion, they want the Church to condone sin, premarital, extramartital & homosexual sex in this case. The Church cannot & will not.

Compassion can never extend to condoning sin. & that includes the use of condoms. The Pope is right in what he said.

I have 2 things I want to add. The 1st is an interesting back up of the Pope that comes from a surprizing source, Harvard. (Emphasis mine)

“We have found no consistent associations between condom use and lower HIV-infection rates, which, 25 years into the pandemic, we should be seeing if this intervention was working.” --Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

Further,“The pope is correct,” Green told National Review Online Wednesday, “or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments. He stresses that “condoms have been proven to not be effective at the ‘level of population.’”

“There is,” Green adds, “a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded ‘Demographic Health Surveys,’ between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates." (H/T Dad29 - Condoms, AIDS, Benedict, and Harvard)

Even from a scientific standpoint, the Pope & the Church's teaching are being upheld. Within the context of AIDS/HIV as a sexually transmitted disease, the Catholic Church's clear teaching of abstainance before marriage & faithfulness to one's spouse in marriage is the only sure way of preventing the spread of any STD.

Meanwhile, I came across this bit of satire that shows how ridiculous the idea of condoning the use of condoms by those with AIDS really is:

African wife-beaters urged to practice "safe-sox"

by Diogenes

The Association of Compassionate Christian Caregivers today severely criticized traditional Catholic teaching on marital "love" and called upon the churches to encourage wife-beating Africans to take the "prudent, practical steps" to reduce the risk of HIV infection when assailing their spouses.
"The science is not in doubt" says Fizzy Osbourne, spokesman for the International Planned Widowhood Federation, "all the evidence shows that bare fists used to pummel infected spouses cause skin ruptures that increase the rate of transmission to the uninfected partner."
AIDS experts advise uninfected wife-beaters to don leather bag-mitts -- ideally on top of and in addition to standard latex gloves -- before striking their HIV-positive wives. Knuckle abrasion and random laceration can be reduced by as much as 94%, which significantly decreases exposure of the aggressor to contaminated blood.
Pre-nuptial workshops in many parts of Africa also instruct future husbands in low-risk striking techniques (Safe-Socks). Most external bleeding ensues from straight punches delivered to the angular parts of the face, especially the eyebrows, teeth, and nasal cartilage. Hooks, uppercuts, and body-punches, on the other hand, rarely break the skin and therefore seldom cause bleeding of the kind that can spatter onto the "active" partner and put him at risk of infection.
Scientists and other specialists in AIDS transmission are dismayed that Vatican ultra-conservatives continue to ignore their findings and insist that all persons -- even unlettered Angolans and even when HIV-negative -- refrain in all circumstances from acts of physical violence against their spouses.
"Preaching charity will NOT solve the problem!" says Osbourne. "We need to work with the reality of where these people are. These are Africans, for God's sake, not persons capable of understanding and following a moral norm. It is irresponsible of the Pope to teach otherwise."
The ACCC was joined by Zero Population Growth and Prof Josef Fritzl in accusing the Catholic Church of "increasing death" by its insistence on charity. "It's about the children," sniffed Fritzl. "I believe all children deserve a father. Yet how many thousands of fathers have died and left orphans behind them -- simply because they were frightened by the Church into leaving off their gloves when thumping the old woman?
South African Bishop Reggie Cawcutt was unavailable for comment.

(H/T: American Papist - More on Condoms)

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I have to add a reminder that the promotion of condoms is just another part of the agenda of the "culture of death". While physical death is a huge part of the agenda, we have to remember what the source of this culture & its agenda is, demonic. & that means that ultimately the aim is spiritual death not just physical.

That is why we have to understand what is behind the media attacks on the Church, so we know how to battle it. 1st we must, as always pray. 2nd, we must continue to proclaim the absolute truths taught by the Church. They are the true source of compassion as well as life, here on Earth & in eternity.