In your editorial on the Papacy in Africa, it ends with the following statement, again from the BBC web site: "One should not forget the millions of HIV victims, most of them Africans. Had the Pope blessed condoms and family planning programs instead of preaching a rigid and damaging dogma, he certainly could have saved many more souls. Wasn't that his job?"
Has anyone in your organization studied the incidents of Aids in Africa? If you had you would have discovered that the problem co...read more
In your editorial on the Papacy in Africa, it ends with the following statement, again from the BBC web site: "One should not forget the millions of HIV victims, most of them Africans. Had the Pope blessed condoms and family planning programs instead of preaching a rigid and damaging dogma, he certainly could have saved many more souls. Wasn't that his job?"
Has anyone in your organization studied the incidents of Aids in Africa? If you had you would have discovered that the problem countries with high HIV rates are Non-Catholic Chrisitan or secular countries where rates are anywhere from 20%-40% of the population infected. Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbawe lead the charge. All with very few Codomless Roman Catholics to influence rates of infection.
The only two countries that you could call Roman Catholic at about 50% of the population, DR Congo and Rwanda have among the lowest rates in Sub Saharan Africa.
Is it not possible that behaviour is the real issue? Why would any promiscuous Catholic selectively choose to not where a condom? By this deduction every Catholic country in the world would be leading the charge in HIV infection rates. Give me a break!
Pambazuka News responds: The article drew on the views of people in Africa as reflected on a BBC website. As such, people are entitled to their views. The particular quote that you refer to repeats a well documented criticism of the Catholic Church, not only in Africa. This holds that whether or not a country is predominantly Catholic, the Catholic Church as a key player in civil society in many countries does have an influence. Therefore its support for the use of condoms could have had an influence on the fight against the epidemic. In the countries that you mention, Rwanda and DRC, HIV infection rates are 5.1 percent and 4.2 percent respectively, according to UNAIDS. In Rwanda in 2003 there were 22 000 aids deaths and in DRC in 2003 there were 100 000 Aids deaths (again, according to UNAIDS). Had the Catholic Church promoted the use of condoms, would some of these lives have been saved?
