Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day. This day is set aside each year to raise awareness of the disease and to remember those who have died from it.
HIV/AIDS remains a huge problem worldwide. As of 2008, more than 33 million people (adults and children) were living with HIV/AIDS. Two million people died of the disease that same year.
And that is why I have a huge problem with the Catholic Church's opposition to condoms.
Sure, Pope Benedict XVI recently softened his stance somewhat (and conditionally). As the New York Times explained it, "Benedict said that for some people, such as male prostitutes, using them could represent a first step in assuming moral responsibility 'in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.'"
But, as the Times goes on to say, "The pope says in his own writings that he takes personal responsibility for the remarks, meaning they are not official church teaching."
Not all Catholic clergy, and indeed not all lay Catholics, agree with the Church's hard stance against condoms. It's just unrealistic. But the rule remains on the books. "Every sperm is sacred."
The Church would like to believe that making rules about condom use is going to control how and when people have sex. But, as we've learned from Bristol Palin and the demonstrated failure of abstinence-only sex education programs, telling people not to have sex is not ultimately going to stop them.
Until the Church wakes up and gets a more realistic grip on this life-and-death issue, it cannot truly be called pro-life.
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