Yet again, the Holy Father has become the object of worldwide media outrage. Replying to questions from journalists during his flight to Cameroon, the Holy Father's answer was asked about the Catholic Church's approach to HIV/AIDS, "considered by some as unrealistic and ineffective." The Vatican Information Service gives his reply as follows:"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."Damian Thompson (Holy Smoke) and Thomas Peters (American Papist) have called attention to what might have been an attempt to soften the Holy Father's words in the "official" account. As they point out with justified exasperation, you just can't do that. For such a high profile press event, there will be shorthand transcripts and video files just waiting to be put out to prove just exactly what he did say.
Perhaps the most determinedly anti-papal newspaper on this issue has been the Times which ran four pieces yesterday attacking the Holy Father, saying, for example "The Pope's statement about condoms is a threat to public health"; "when the ultra-conservative head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was elected Pope all hopes of change vanished."; "The Vatican, in pursuit of its myopic obsession and desire to control sexuality", and headlining a "news" article "Pope’s attack on condoms sickens Aids campaigners." there is some good comment on this onslaught by Diogenes (Off the Record). Diogenes also has a satirical piece urging African wife-beaters to don leather bag-mitts as a risk-reduction measure.
I think the point is well made. Nobody believes that condoms are 100% safe. When the question is asked of an individual case "Would it be right to use a condom to prevent death?" One could reply that it would certainly be right, for example, to inflate a condom in an effort to save someone's life by helping them to stay afloat after being shipwrecked. But shipwreck is not normally a voluntary activity. If there is an outbreak of compulsive shipwrecking and someone said that the shipwreckers should be taught to stay away from ships, you would not accuse them of endangering lives because they did not consider it wise to encourage them to carry inflatables with them when puncturing the hull.
Sexual activity is something that we can choose to do or not. If engaging in sexual relations with one's wife, friend, partner or a casual stranger carries a significant risk of killing them, it is not an answer to say that we should reduce the risk of that happening by using a condom when the risk can be eliminated by not engaging in sexual relations.
The argument about HIV/AIDS and condoms is not about microscopic pores in the condom. The fact is that in countries that have relied on promoting abstinence and faithfulness, there has been a measurable decrease in the incidence of HIV/AIDS; in countries which have relied on promoting condom use there has been an increase. There are probably various factors involved but if anyone is threatening public health it is not the Pope.
One good piece in the press yesterday was Anthony McCarthy's article in the Telegraph:The Pope's critics are in the grip of dogma.
My own page on AIDS, Condoms and the Catholic Church has links to various articles as well as to my own paper on the subject. I am glad to report also that the Bishops Conference of England and Wales has a page on Pope Benedict in Cameroon and Angola with some useful links on the question.
Were he a politician, I am sure that the Holy Father would have been advised to keep quiet about AIDS and condoms, to evade the question or simply to emphasise the positive work that the Church does, such as that one of every four AIDS patients in the world is treated in a Catholic centre. In the spirit of martyrdom, the successor of St Peter chose not to take the easy path but to speak the truth boldly. At a time when he has been recently subjected to sustained assaults in the world's media, his courage and determination are an inspiring example of genuine love for the suffering.
11 comments:
Dear Father,
This is an excellent post. Thanks so much. I can't remember the media ever making such vicious attacks on Pope John Paul II for teaching and preaching the same ethics. Am I wrong here?
People who use contraception are injuring themselves, the Family (which comes from God), and society by their wrong behaviour - and if they consider themselves to be ''Catholic'' then it is 100 times worse. And behaviour of this kind is always resonant; it never stops being ''bad'' and neither does it plateau: it goes from bad, to worse, to evil. A situation has been produced (by the legalisation of Divorce, almost universal toleration of contraceptives, abortion etc - which is the toleration of abuse and downright blasphemy) in which by law and social custom, people are actively encouraged to promiscuity and inconstancy. And most people are oblivious to this self-evident fact! I know of self-professed ''Catholics'' who have said that the Church's position on contraception is out-of-touch with the modern age; or worse, that it was devised by celibate men who have no concept of family life! Ridiculous and abominable. A veiled way of saying: ''I do not recognise that the Church is the pillar and ground of the Truth; I feel that it is my right to follow my conscience in this matter, since my professed religious beliefs are proxy of my personal opinions.'' Ergo, sentio cum Ecclesia! I am proud to say that. The Holy Father has my unreserved support and prayers in this vital matter. May God bless him.
Certain people might consider applying some journalistic or scientific objectivity to the question of where in Africa the condom use relentlessly promoted by Western NGOs and compliant governments has ever arrested, never mind reversed, the rate of HIV infection. There is nowhere.
However, such a reversal is under way in Uganda, where the government's message is the same as the Catholic Church's: "Change Your Behaviour". Huge numbers of condoms have been distributed in Botswana, and the result has been for President Festus Mogae to declare, "Abstain or die".
Who, exactly, is incapable of fidelity within a monogamous marriage and abstinence outside such a marriage? Women? Black people? Poor people? Developing-world people? Or just poor black women in the developing world?
Our Blessed Lord did not mince His words, nor worry about whom he might offend with politically 'incorrect' speech! With that in mind Pope Benedict is indeed in the best of company. Fearless, as a true German Shepherd should be. Thank God for our Pope.
Instead of simply jumping on the bandwagon of PC slogans and quoting 'junk science' about the benefits of condoms (none!), why don't the media actually sit down for a moment or even two, and think about what the Holy Father is actually saying about this issue. For sure, he abhors the suffering that AIDS/HIV causes to so many millions as we all do, but in the vast majority of cases the individual concerned is infected because of their choice and their lifestyle. If that behaviour remains unchallenged the spread of AIDS will continue. Condoms are neither effective at prevention of viral particle transmission nor does their use change behaviour. As the Holy Father says what the world desperately needs is the 'humanisation of sexuality'. For the last several decades sexuality has been de-humanised by the pornography industry to a point where personal gratification at any cost (a quick glance at the daily news is enough to fill in many of the sick and sordid details) is passed off as normal sexual behaviour. This is wrong and men and women are not mere objects to fulfil their individual selfish desires!
The Holy Father goes on to say that, "a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another" is the way forward to combat not only the spread of AIDS/HIV, but also other STD's and the breakdown of family values.
It is the world that needs to reappraise its values NOT the Catholic Church, which has been consistent in its teaching over 2000 years and has been proved right again and again on all matters concerning human behaviour over the centuries.
If we were simply to follow the Maker's instructions things would be a whole lot better.
But sadly man continues to ignore God, makes-up his own instructions and that's why we are where we are - in a terrible mess!
So, stuff that in your condoms dear worldwide media!
God Bless our fearless Pope.
God's law is not complex. It is obvious to everyone, as obvious to those who break it as it is to those who obey it.
The following passage is from 'Let My People Go, AIDS Profiteers' by The Rev. Sam L. Ruteikara co-chair of Uganda's National AIDS-Prevention Committee:-
Western media have been told this renewed surge of HIV infection is because there are "not enough condoms in Uganda," even though we have many more condoms now than we did in the early 1990s, when our HIV rates began to decline. Condom promotions have failed in Africa, mostly because fewer than 5 percent of people use condoms consistently with regular partners. Indeed, the loudest HIV-prevention message in Africa is "universal access" to condoms, testing, anti-retroviral treatment, and assorted other drugs and devices. All these commodities must be transported, stored, distributed, advertised and resupplied endlessly.
Meanwhile, effective HIV prevention methods, such as urging Africans to stick to one partner, don't qualify for lucrative universal-access status.
International suppliers make broad, oversimplified statements such as "You can't change Africans' sexual behavior." While it's true that you can't change everybody, you don't have to. If the share of men having three or more sexual partners in a year drops from 15 percent to 3 percent, as happened in Uganda between 1989 and 1995, HIV infection rates will plunge. It is that simple.
We, the poor of Africa, remain silenced in the global dialogue. Our wisdom about our own culture is ignored.
Telling men and women to keep sex sacred - to save sex for marriage and then remain faithful - is telling them to love one another deeply with their whole hearts. Most HIV infections in Africa are spread by sex outside of marriage: casual sex and infidelity. The solution is faithful love.
So hear my plea, HIV-AIDS profiteers. Let my people go. We understand that casual sex is dear to you, but staying alive is dear to us. Listen to African wisdom, and we will show you how to prevent AIDS.
Today's Telegraph has an article saying Vatican "insiders" think that the Pope is a "disaster". I read it but was unable to make a counter comment. It made me furious.
JARay
Just read that one. My goodness, there is some viciousness going on!
This is one of the most informative posts I have read on your blog, Fr Tim, in the 2 years since I first read about it in The Catholic Times.
I am aware of a number of harrowing experiences of victims within the Catholic Church, and am much encouraged by the teachings of BXVI. It seems to me that he uses the opportunities presented on foreign visits to re-affirm the age-old teachings of the Catholic Church.
How can any journalist or commentator misunderstand when his teachings are so clear and direct?!!!
Vatican insiders???
Either a complete lie or whisps of the 'smoke of satan' we were warned about many years ago.
Either way the Pope should know that he is in our prayers and the groundswell of support for him from the 'Real Catholic world' is overwhelming.
Viva Papa!!!! Proclaiming the Truth 'in and out of season' and not pandering to the Zeitgeist. Viva the Catholic Faith - built on a foundation of ROCK and consistent for all time.
There is a robust response from the Cardinal in today's Times, focussing mainly on the disgraceful cartoon they published on Wednesday, but also on the underlying issues.
Many thanks for that link, Richard.
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