HIV/Aids: Catholic Church in Condom Palaver

AllAfrica ^ | Chioma Obinna

[narses]

The Catholic Church has been accused of warning people in African, Asian and other countries with high rates of HIV infection that condoms do not protect against the transmission of the virus, the claims come just a day after a report revealed that a young person is now infected with HIV every 14 seconds.

According to BBC report, "cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns in four continents of the church have been quoted as saying HIV can pass through tiny holes in condoms but latest warnings were made in a Panorama programme called 'Sex and the Holy City' by one of the Vatican's most senior cardinals Alfonso Lopez Trujillo who allegedly suggests that the AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon and could pass through net formed by the condom.

Trujillo, President of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, called on governments to urge people not to use condoms.

His words "These margins of uncertainty, should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do, with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."

In swift reaction to this claim, the World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned the comments and warned the Vatican to desist from putting lives at risk with such utterances.

A spokeswoman to WHO was quoted as saying that" Statements like this are quite dangerous"We are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people and currently affects around 42 million. "There is so much evidence to show that condoms don't let sexually transmitted infections like HIV through. "Anyone who says otherwise is just wrong."

Also reacting, Catherine Hankins, Chief Scientific Advisor to UNAIDS,, argued that the statements by Catholic Church are totally incorrect saying that Latex condoms are impermeable. She added that latex condoms are not only good but can perfectly prevent HIV transmission from one person to another during sex.

According to her, " "It is very unfortunate to have this type of misinformation being broadcast, "It is a concern. From a technical point of view, the statements are totally incorrect. "Latex condoms are impermeable. They do prevent HIV transmission."

Meanwhile, several anti - AIDS campaigns have also condemned the call by the Vatican arguing that condoms are straightforward and effective way of preventing HIV transmission and to suggest otherwise is dangerous.

However, the claim by the Catholic Church is already having effect on the condom distribution activities of some anti HIV/AIDS programmes.

Efforts to get a reaction from Catholic Secretariat in Lagos were unsuccessful as at press time.

[CobaltBlue]

The official position of the Church on schism is to stay within the Church and work to change it.

Accusing people who don't agree 100% with the Church of being Protestants and trying to force them out is contrary to the official position of the Church.

For example - nobody went to hell for eating meat on Friday. That was a mistake, and it was retracted.

Eventually the Church saw the light on Galileo.

And eventually the Church will see the light on contraception.

[CobaltBlue]

I prefer to think of myself as inspired by the Holy Spirit. You are free to disagree.

Have a nice day.

[Romulus]

That was a mistake, and it was retracted.

False on both counts. You are not Catholic. You have not the remotest notion of what the Church teaches, or why. You may succeed in deceiving yourself, but no one else is fooled.

[Romulus]

I prefer to think of myself as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I'm sure you do. See my earlier remark about self-deception.

[CobaltBlue]

Fasting on Friday by eating fish instead of meat used to be mandatory and now is voluntary.

Was eating meat on Friday a mortal sin in the past? Yes.

Is it mortal sin now? No.

[CobaltBlue]

Have a blessed day.

[Romulus]

Although abstinence from meat on most Fridays is no longer mandatory, some meaningful penitential act is still mandatory. This could certainly include abstinence from meat, and for many Catholics it does. Moreover, during Lent, abstinence from meat is still required of all but the sick and elderly. I'm surprised that a self-identified Catholic doesn't know this.

Then as now, the mortal sin isn't in breaking an arbitrary juridical ordinance; the sin is in willfully refusing the Church's call to penance. The sin is for pride and disobediance, not for the act of eating.

I don't know how you came to acquire your primitive understanding of Catholicism, but it's time you outgrew it.

[Unam Sanctam]

Actually, if your reports 1 in 100 number relates to the entire pool of HIV and non-HIV infected individuals, and the 15 in a 100 number relates to the pool of those infected with HIV, then the 10% risk of transmission is actually conservative compared to your report. Perhaps I am misreading the study. I'm sure you will point it out if I do. Regardless, the "safe sex" propagandists, by merely using that term when it is false, lie all the time. It is not the Church that it is lying. None of your sophistry can change that.

You and others keep mentioning that the Church's beliefs on the sinfulness of sex outside of marriage in an act in which life is not artificially impeded, as if that (a) means that the scientific fact that the Church is pointing out, i.e., less than 100% effectiveness, is thereby impeached, or (b) that the Church is somehow wrong and not entitled to hold its beliefs.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

It's not often we get to see the face of AmChurch here on FR.

I think we just did.

[Unam Sanctam]

The sinfulness of some priests or of other individuals in no way either (a) renders false the scientific factual claim that the Church is making and that the "safe sex" proponents are trying to cover up or (b) renders false the divinely revealed truths on Christian morality handed down in Sacred Tradition from the Apostles and as authentically interpreted by the Church's teaching office.

[Unam Sanctam]

The official position of the Church on schism is to stay within the Church and work to change it. Accusing people who don't agree 100% with the Church of being Protestants and trying to force them out is contrary to the official position of the Church. For example - nobody went to hell for eating meat on Friday. That was a mistake, and it was retracted. Eventually the Church saw the light on Galileo. And eventually the Church will see the light on contraception.

The Christian truths on sexual morality and marriage are in fact core beliefs part of the deposit of faith. Jesus himself speaks of marriage, adultery, purity of heart and the need to not even lust in the heart. Galileo's issue did not relate to faith or morals, and neither does fish on Friday. The Church's "official position" is not to change the truths that are part of the divinely revealed deposit of faith.

[CobaltBlue]

Disobeying God is a mortal sin. Disobeying man is not.

[CobaltBlue]

Using contraception within marriage is not a violation of anything Christ taught. When Christ spoke of lusting in one's heart, he was talking about adultery. Lusting for your own spouse is not adultery.

Have a blessed day.

[CobaltBlue]

Using a condom during intercourse is more likely to prevent transmission of HIV than not using a condom during intercourse.

Is abstinence more effective? Yes.

Is everybody able to abstain? No.

It is better to examine one's own conscience, and accept the fact that one is going to sin, and prepare for it, than pretend that one won't, and not prepare.

God will forgive you for sinning, but HIV is forever.

[Unam Sanctam]

Using contraception within marriage is not a violation of anything Christ taught. When Christ spoke of lusting in one's heart, he was talking about adultery. Lusting for your own spouse is not adultery.

My examples were merely to show that the subject of sexual morality is at the center of our faith, and not optional extras, since Jesus specifically addressed these issues. I would also add that Jesus said He did not come to overthrow the Law, but to fulfill it, and the Apostles and the Church kept the moral aspects of the Mosaic law. And in any event, Sacred Tradition covers more than what Jesus specifically said in Scripture.

[CobaltBlue]

It's not often we get to see the face of AmChurch here on FR.

If you mean me, yes, and it's due to reading posts from alleged Catholics on Free Republic that actually caused me to be more confident in my faith. Watching them claw, scratch and peck at other Catholics that don't believe exactly as they do, full of rage and hate, puffed up with pride.

Latin mass. Gold cups. Which way the priest faces. *Sigh.*

[CobaltBlue]

Jewish law commands husbands to satisfy their wives sexually, and wifes to satisfy their husbands sexually. So I don't think you're going to find support for your "anti-lust in marriage" position there.

[Unam Sanctam]

My conscience is perfectly clear. Those who counsel people to sin and sin "safely" (when it in fact is nothing of the kind) should examine their consciences. There are plenty of social forces in the world telling people how to sin. That is not the Church's job. It is to tell people not to sin. It is utterly hegemonic for sexual liberals to say that the Church must not only deny its very beliefs but must affirmatively tell people how to sin. How dare the Church not walk in lockstep with the politically correct "safe sex" ideology! How dare they point out that condoms are not failsafe (which the words "safe sex" on their very face denies, notwithstanding your sophistry)! How dare they hold such "Dark Age" beliefs that promiscuity is bad! I have never heard such a malicious, bad faith and ill-intentioned smear campaign as the current campaign against the Catholic Church on this issue.

[Unam Sanctam]

Do you deny that Jesus specifically told us not to lust in our heart? Jesus is in fact calling us to a more exacting standard of performance of the moral aspects of the Mosaic law.

[Romulus]

Disobeying God is a mortal sin. Disobeying man is not.

What about when a man is authorised to speak for God? Being Catholic and all, surely you acknowledge this possibility.