Wrong Message from the Pope

Benedict knows as a confessor that all men and women don't act responsibly in sexual matters. Furthermore, most men don't like swimming in a raincoat, to use one analogy. Condoms do block infection and using condoms for prophylaxis is licit and obligatory for infected and unmarried persons, but the pope is not going to give a green light to promiscuity and sexual license by endorsing condoms. So yes, condoms are safe and effective when clinically tested, but sex isn't performed in a clinic.

What is it about the internet that allows people to descend to barbarian levels when responding on this site? The editorial was quite lucid. I don't agree with it, but we ought to respond in kind.

I'm amazed at how hung up we are on this issue. The response from Africa is much different then the response from Europe and the U.S. Africa seems to have far less difficulty with the Pope's position. If condoms were really the answer would the U.K.'s HIV infection rate have tripled recently? They hand out condoms like bubblegum. Maybe the answer is a little more complex; maybe the Pope's view ought to be given a little more respect.

Did you notice that people opposing the Benedict XVI vantage point do not reason? Just personal attack, insult, bad and childish manners. Neither empirical nor scienific approach at all.

The truth is that up today the only african country that can show good results is Uganda ...the closest to the pope position in spite of all theories against it.

It is common sense that abstinence and being faithful to the partner stops the AIDS spreading. Comdom comes just in third place.

1. Any Georgetown professor who favors the use of condoms should be dismissed.
2. Yes, there are a number of social problems in Africa which contribute to AIDS (such as the thing mentioned in the article about little girls). These social problems need to be addressed. Human behavior needs to be improved.
3. Two wrongs do not make a right. The ends do not justify the means.
4. Yes, contraceptives encourage promiscuity. Of course they do. That's why it was called the "sexual revolution."

And chastity education works . Uganda has chosen chastity education over condoms, and AIDS is decreasing there.

This whole "condoms for Africa" thing has nothing to do with AIDS and everythign to do with the Kissinger Doctrine, the US agenda of world conquest through "population control."

There is nothing "Holy" about this old Nazi "Father" He is nothing more than another embarrassment to the Catholic Church in the 21st Century.

Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, U.S.A.

"The consistent use of latex condoms continues to be advocated for primary prevention of HIV infection despite limited quantitative evidence regarding the effectiveness of condoms in blocking the sexual transmission of HIV. Although recent meta-analyses of condom effectiveness suggest that condoms are 60 to 70% effective when used for HIV prophylaxis, these studies do not isolate consistent condom use, and therefore provide only a lower bound on the true effectiveness of correct and consistent condom use. A reexamination of HIV seroconversion studies suggests that condoms are 90 to 95% effective when used consistently, i.e. consistent condom users are 10 to 20 times less likely to become infected when exposed to the virus than are inconsistent or non-users. Similar results are obtained utilizing model-based estimation techniques, which indicate that condoms decrease the per-contact probability of male-to-female transmission of HIV by about 95%. Though imperfect, condoms provide substantial protection against HIV infection. Condom promotion therefore remains an important international priority in the fight against AIDS."

The pope figures that since many condom users are forinicators, and since Jesus himself stated that forinicators (along with gays and murderers) are going to hell, well, then, to hell with the condoms too. It makes sense, if you believe the bible.

"Condoms do promote promiscuity, wich the Holy Father sais as well."

Do you have any statistical backing for this statement?

ttdeathreal,

The information from the CDC are their public information releases. i.e. nothing was changed.

And you make many statements but offer no references. Please substantiate!!!

Why do protestant idiots keep nagging on about this? The Holy Father made no error by his comment. Condoms do promote promiscuity, wich the Holy Father sais as well. Condoms give people a sense of " everything is gonna be ok". No, not here in the real world. Keep it in your pants or just leave your dang panties on and AIDS would have never been a problem.

@CCNL

I have no idea how you summarize those paragraphs like that. The point there is that the condoms DO work when used properly, but that they are not 100% safe. The actual number is very close to 100% though, although it varies by source.

As far as abstinence education in US. Yeah, that really worked well. Over 70% of US teens (2007 numbers) have STD's, many of them believe that anal sex is safe and that they shouldn't need to use condoms.

I am waiting the times when mass murderers like the pope are brought to trial for at least the abuse of power causing mass death and suffering.

There use to be an old saying -- if you don't play the game, you can't make the rules.

The Catholic Church is making itself less relevant day by day. All they seem to want is more Catholics (so reproduce and reproduce even if you can't afford to feed all those children). Along with more Catholics they want more money.

Oh, yes.... And a few altar boys on the side....

When this story first broke, I attempted to email the Pope and let him know how stupid I thought his comment was, only to find out that he conveniently refused all emails regarding this issue.

He isn't a Pope for the people...

From the CDC
"Condoms and STDs: Fact Sheet for Public Health Personnel
Consistent and correct use of male latex condoms can reduce (though not eliminate) the risk of STD transmission. To achieve the maximum protective effect, condoms must be used both consistently and correctly. Inconsistent use can lead to STD acquisition because transmission can occur with a single act of intercourse with an infected partner.
Similarly, if condoms are not used correctly, the protective effect may be diminished even when they are used consistently. The most reliable ways to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are to abstain from sexual activity or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner. However, many infected persons may be unaware of their infections because STDs are often asymptomatic or unrecognized.

More from the CDC:

from the CDC-2006
"Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain a major public health challenge in the United States. While substantial progress has been made in preventing, diagnosing, and treating certain STDs in recent years, CDC estimates that approximately 19 million new infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24.1 In addition to the physical and psychological consequences of STDs, these diseases also exact a tremendous economic toll. Direct medical costs associated with STDs in the United States are estimated at up to $14.7 billion annually in 2006 dollars."

Bottom line: Condoms are not being used and/or are not very effective.

Those who can think for themselves pay little heed to whatever issues forth from the Vatican.

Tempest in a Teapot.

What do you expect from one whose total knowledge of reproductive biology is still at the 15th Century level?

what's new? the pope is a fool. anyone who pays him any more mind than he gives the village idiot is a bigger fool.

Religion does much more harm than good these days.

The reason the "Condom Wars" overshadowed the pope's message on his trip to Africa is that the media-- including Ms. Marshall-- has chosen to fixate upon it. Also, some of the examples in this article are inflamitory and disingenuous. I doubt that the "infected older men" referred to above would use condoms even if the Church told them to do so. Furthermore, the teaching of "Safe Sex" does little to address the "complexities of human sexuality." "We understand that you have urges, and if you are going to act them at least be safe: use a condom." The shallowness of such a philosophy is readily apparent.

Condoms are only effective when the prevalence of an STD is low. The prevalence of HIV in many African nations is 10-20%. With a condom failure rate of around 1-2% per use, you are almost certain to contract the disease in a few years. The major risk factor is multiple partners, and Western liberals do not wish to address this, because it points to a failure of their ideology of sexual libertinism.

[BTW, I love how "ideology" is (1) considered pejorative, and (2) considered only to apply to other people. To be "objective" is only to be blind to your own bias.]

If you want to see a condom success story, look at the U.S., where condom use and sex ed have long been well established, yet 20% of the population has herpes. If this is success, I'd hate to see failure. Yet we are taught that promiscuous sex with a condom is "safe", while monogamous sex without a condom is unsafe. How's that for putting ideology above facts?

There's a reason that virtually every culture in the anthropological record has confined most sexual activity to marriage; it's a practical necessity for long-term survival.

I'm surprised that the pope didn't say genocide was the best single answer to African AIDS, rather than ‘abstinence.’

I am not concerned with AIDS in Africa. However, they should not be allowed to enter the United States. All they will do is burden our health care system.

I think a bigger issue is that everyone is making cartoons but I dont see any Cartoons about an Clerics of the Muslim faith?? Why is that, is that the cartoonist are afraid?? Why is ok to make cartoons of other religious leader but not the Muslim cleric?? I think their views are worse than the other faiths. Ahh the politically correct secular world how nice and equal they are.

Where does the Catholic church get off commenting on the hypothetical?

The should stick to commentary on the only subject in this area they have expereience with: sex with young boys.

Interesting column but you totally ignore the possibility that he might be right. The conventional wisdom on Africa has been wrong on so many things; why is it that it might not be on this? Yes, in a single iteration a condom will offer some protection from HIV infection. But what about multiple iterations? Does condom use encourage an increase in risky behavior?

I'm no expert on this matter and neither are you but check out the following:

Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, in response to papal press comments en route to Africa this week noted that after 25 years, no visible positive results have been seen as a result of condom distribution

“The pope is correct,” Green told National Review Online Wednesday, “or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments. He stresses that “condoms have been proven to not be effective at the ‘level of population.’”

“There is,” Green adds, “a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded ‘Demographic Health Surveys,’ between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates. This may be due in part to a phenomenon known as risk compensation, meaning that when one uses a risk-reduction ‘technology’ such as condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) by ‘compensating’ or taking greater chances than one would take without the risk-reduction technology.”

Green added: “I also noticed that the pope said ‘monogamy’ was the best single answer to African AIDS, rather than ‘abstinence.’ The best and latest empirical evidence indeed shows that reduction in multiple and concurrent sexual partners is the most important single behavior change associated with reduction in HIV-infection rates (the other major factor is male circumcision).”

We had the "condom wars" because the secular world is obsessed with them. The Pope didn't volunteer his comments, he responded to a question. Marshall can lament all she wants about this situation, but it is the secular press that keeps it alive because they disagree with the Pope. To accuse the Pope and Catholics of being insensitive to those with HIV is an affront to all those within the church who work with compassion and diligence to care for those with HIV. The Pope was right on this issue and the secular press' reaction just proves it.

So the Pope spoke out against witchcraft in Africa.

A strange thing for him to done. The Vatican may be the largest coven of warlocks in the world.

Regarding the Holy Father's ridiculous hypothesis, at a minimum condoms leak or break. If we were speaking of wearing masks 98% effective in preventing hemorrhagic fever or a strain bubonic plague, both of which have mortality rates of 50% or so, we would be talking quarantine, not the great effectiveness of the masks. To date the mortality with AIDS is 100%.

When the Church speaks out against condoms as birth control or AIDS, it does not do so in isolation. It speaks in the context of an ennobling expression of sexuality between a man and woman, that is open to the gift of children in the time of Grace.

The Marshalls of the world want to reduce the dignity of men and women. teenagers and adults, gays and straights, by telling us all that we realistically have no control over our instincts. If we are approached by someone and discover a mutual attraction, then rather than the tedious process of discovering and cultivating friendship, we should go for sexual gratification instead of long-term companionship, and demand of "my body, my way, all the time" instead of a life-long commitment of sharing the gift of self.

Now which of those visions honors human dignity and the gift of personhood: Marshall or the Benedict XVI?

From the CDC

"Condoms and STDs: Fact Sheet for Public Health Personnel

Consistent and correct use of male latex condoms can reduce (though not eliminate) the risk of STD transmission. To achieve the maximum protective effect, condoms must be used both consistently and correctly. Inconsistent use can lead to STD acquisition because transmission can occur with a single act of intercourse with an infected partner.

Similarly, if condoms are not used correctly, the protective effect may be diminished even when they are used consistently. The most reliable ways to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are to abstain from sexual activity or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner. However, many infected persons may be unaware of their infections because STDs are often asymptomatic or unrecognized."

Just underscores the fact that the pope and his boys are more interested in ideology than they are in helping people. Of course, what do you expect from a religious organization?