The Pope on Condoms & AIDS

The Pope on Condoms & AIDS

by Bill Schuch

Here is some background for fellow Catholics who know not what to make of the Pope's recent comments on using condoms to prevent HIV transmission.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa began on Pope John Paul II's watch. Sadly, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have ignored the plight of monogamous women at the mercy of their HIV-positive spouses and partners by forbidding Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to provide condoms to such couples with instructions as to their consistent proper use if the infected male demands sex.

Millions of African women have died of AIDS over the last several decades - the bitter harvest of the birth control encyclical which was issued over the objections of 90 percent of the cardinals, bishops, theologians, medical professionals and lay experts on the papal commission studying birth control.

Preaching abstinence and fidelity did not help them - they were already faithful to their partners. Yet refusing a husband's sexual overtures risked ostracism, violence, and destitution for them and their children.

Since1989 and citing long-standing principles of Catholic moral theology, 7 national conferences of Catholic Bishops and 25 cardinals and bishops have publicly urged the use of condoms to protect monogamous African women from their HIV-positive husbands and partners.

Will Benedict finally show some real compassion for these innocent women by authorizing Catholic relief agencies to provide condoms and guidance to these couples? Otherwise these agencies will be guaranteed an inexhaustible supply of dying women for which to care. Not a very Christ-like scenario.