The AP reported on his comments as follows:
"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane heading to Yaounde. "On the contrary, it increases the problem."In other words, abstinence and chastity are the only answers. Just like Sarah Palin preaches. And look what that got Palin -- a grandchild born out of wedlock.
The pope said a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease.
I know that the Pope would like us all to believe that any seed that's spilled outside one's wife's body is a sin against God.
But we've seen plenty of evidence that forcing an abstinence-only approach to sex outside marriage usually backfires. Human beings are, well, human. With hormones. In the U.S., Africa, or wherever.
Knowing that devout Catholics in Africa are likely to follow the Pope's preachings and avoid condom use, this can only worsen the HIV/AIDS plight there.
And that, Your so-called Holiness, is a sin against humanity.
That said, I stumbled upon a very good editorial on the subject in the Baltimore Catholic Examiner, written by a very brave and wise Catholic nun. Check it out: Reality vs. Dogma: The Pope In Africa
It's highly unlikely that the pope is going to make any statements that contradict current church teaching.
ReplyDeleteI just cannot get over how the church refuses to change these teachings. Way back in the 60's there was a book entitled A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church.
http://tinyurl.com/cayay4
The author (who I think ended up leaving the priesthood) criticized the church's teaching on birth control back then ...
I can't understand what's in it for the clergy to stick to this outdated party line. They have to know that Catholics are not abiding by it. I guess it's part and parcel of their attitude toward sex.
Even condoms are not the real key to the problems of overpopulation and the spread of HIV. There's the oppression of women -- rape and otherwise. As Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) says: ‘We can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated, a society will not change.’