Friday, March 20, 2009
The pope’s visit to Africa is recovering from a bad start
It’s no surprise that Pope Benedict XVI doesn’t want people to use condoms.
He is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and the church takes the position that condoms — or any other form of artificial birth control — interferes with God’s plan for procreation.
And so, we would expect the pope to tell people that using a condom is a sin. He might even go so far as to suggest that such use puts a person’s soul in jeopardy.
The demographics of most Western nations — even strongly Catholic nations — would suggest that the majority of people aren’t on the same page as the pope. Still, the pope is obliged to speak out on moral issues with a consistent voice. That is a proper practice of his religion.
Where Pope Benedict went wrong when he arrived in Africa the other day is that he went from practicing religion to practicing medicine. Malpracticing would be more accurate in describing the pope’s declaration that, “AIDS cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms ... On the contrary, they increase the problem.”
A terrible toll
More than 25 million people have died of AIDS in Africa and another 22 million are living with the disease. While the pope — and a lot of other people — may think that those 22 million infected people should live lives of celibacy so as not to infect others, that simply isn’t going to happen. Indeed, the spread of the diseases is proof that people are no more interested in being monogamous than they are being celibate.
In a culture where millions of undereducated women are trapped in lives of prostitution and where millions of married men turn to prostitutes and where those men’s wives are not in a position to say no to a husband — even an HIV infected husband — condoms help more than they hurt.
Condoms are not a perfect method of reducing sexually transmitted diseases, but they offer significant levels of protection over unprotected sex. Reducing the transmission of HIV represents a lot of lives saved, including children born to infected mothers.
Other important issues
It is unfortunate that the pope’s visit to Africa began on such a negative note, because this is an important trip for the pontiff. Africa is a continent racked by war, hunger, poverty, disease and religious tension. The focus has shifted from the pope’s position on AIDS prevention to his reaching out to Africa’s Muslim leaders in a call for peace. And that’s encouraging.
Just as women and children are the primary victims in the spread of AIDS, children are the most tragic victims of war. Boys as young as 10 or 11 are being robbed of their youth and innocence by being kidnapped and trained as soldiers. That is a moral outrage that the pope can address in the strongest of possible terms without fear of dissent or contradiction.