Warning: this is NOT from the Onion.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509488,00.html

Pope: Condoms 'Increase' AIDS Epidemic in Africa

Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday that the distribution of condoms is not the answer in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Benedict has never before spoken explicitly on condom use although he has stressed that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

"You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon. "On the contrary, it increases the problem."

Some priests and nuns working with victims of the AIDS pandemic ravaging Africa question the church's opposition to condoms.

The pope also said that he intends to make an appeal for "international solidarity" for Africa in the face of the global economic downturn.

He said that while the church does not propose specific economic solutions, it can give "spiritual and moral" suggestions.

Describing the current crisis as the consequence of "a deficit of ethics in economic structures," the pope said, "It is here that the church can make a contribution."

Benedict's seven-day pilgrimage will take him to Cameroon and Angola. Africa is the fastest-growing region for the Roman Catholic Church.

With all due respect given to the Pontiff.... that's completely illogical.

I'm home visiting my parents for a little while and I was discussing this with my mom. I'm pleased to hear that she is on the side of those nuns and priests mentioned in this article that question the validity of the pope's claim. She is a pretty big defender of the church.

I read this article and another one from the guardian and nowhere did I find a quote backing up this claim that condoms are hurting the aids epidemic. I'm stumped here, as I'm sure much of the world is.

i think sometimes all churches have the problem of accepting small sins in order to prevent much worse things from happening

He doesn't need to back up his claims with facts. He's the motherfucking Pope!

infallibility is a wonderful thing

you should try it

Just a matter of clarification, but when people critique the pope they get the "infallible" part mixed up.

The pope is infallible when teaching "Ex Cathedra" or "From the Seat". This is the only time he claims infallibility. Most of what the pope says, like this, is papal opinion. Catholics like the nuns and priests in the field working with aids patients are free to disagree without risk of being branded heretics.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05677a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infa ... allibility

fuck you

so it's the chair that's infallible

now we're getting somewhere

So what? I had an inflatable chair when I was a kid.

We've had this debate before, you all lost it then, and you'll lose it now.

You think condoms are the answer? Fine. Take a look at the mess that is Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, and pay particular attention Botswana and Mozambique. All of these nations have taken extremely half assed liberal "condom based" approaches to stopping the spread of AIDS and it has failed miserably. No HIV or AIDS rates have fallen in these nations, and in the case of Botswana and Mozambique they have even made things worse.

But hark, look at Uganda. A nation that was once just as buried in HIV and AIDS as both Mozambique and Botswana, and through societal adjustments the country has greatly reduced the percentage of its population dealing with AIDS. They didn't do it with condoms. They did with family values. And as an aside, what's the AIDS rate for the Muslim population in Africa? I mean, since condoms are clearly the solution here. Condoms are the solution to AIDS in Africa like they are the solution to teenaged pregnancy in Washington DC.

who said they're the be all end all solution?

if all the teenagers actually used condoms and didn't attempt to pull out or rely on their partner having taken birth control or just hope they get lucky and nothing happens then there'd be lowered pregnancy rates in DC.

was it baptised?

There's your answer. You can tell people to use condoms all you want, but if you do it half-assed then no one's gonna listen and it will obviously fail. That's different from saying that a good condom based approach is a bad idea.

Plus, South Africa had a PRESIDENT who was saying that HIV didn't cause AIDS. I'm sure the government was doing a similarly bang-up job in places like Zimbabwe where they're busy watering the crops with Brawndo, because it's what plants crave.

So yeah, a change in the society, like having a government that isn't taking an active part in making the problem WORSE would be a good start.

If you had a grown kid and knew that there was a 50% chance that the next boy/girl he/she wanted to fuck has Aids, would you suggest he/she use a condom? Or masturbate and not risk dieing?

Do you think it is our sexual prudence in the western world that has prevented us from having an AIDS epidemic on the scale of Africa's?

If it's a grown ass kid, he can do whatever he pleases. It's his fault for dieing.