R0bert,
I am not an expert on Africa but from what I have read, availability of condoms is not a problem; there are many distributors of condoms by those who do not care about what the Pope says or thinks. What he defended was in fact the refusal to distribute condoms as part of the Catholic agencies' fight against AIDS in Africa. He has no power nor legitimacy to speak on behalf of other agencies, nevertheless he has the right to express his opinion like anybody else. Yes, the Pope is envied by many for the respect he enjoys with (most) Catholics - see e.g. Stalin‘s question about the number of divisions he commands.

Truly, he should have used a more diplomatic language when replying to the (provocative) question in the plane. The Vatican expert John L. Allen Jr. suggested something like: "Of course, the Church is deeply concerned about AIDS, which is why a quarter of all AIDS patients in the world are cared for by Catholic hospitals and other facilities. As far as condoms are concerned, our teaching is well-known, but today isn't the right time for discussing it. Instead, I want to focus on my message of hope to the African people.“ Well, this Pope is a professor, not a diplomat.

In general, there are those who have local knowledge of Africa and share the Pope's assessment of the situation, and those experts who strongly disagree with him. I am aware that the second group is much larger than the first one.

Although I can see the Church's point against getting involved in an indiscriminate distribution of condoms, I disagree with those bishops who (by applying Humanae Vitae verbatim) altogether prohibit the use of condoms, including e.g. by a married couple or as a “safety net” in certain situations “beyond control“. (As far as I know this was the first time that this Pope mentioned condoms explicitly during his pontificate, though he apparently does not want/dare to rescind the strict, anachronistic, rulings of his predecessors). Otherwise I agree with what you were saying with your allegory.

George the allegry is not perfect but it fitted well enough. I don't know african cultures well enough to make informed comment either. I suspect that if church opposition to condoms carries any weight it will impact on how easily they are obtainable when needed in a rush.

As for the impact on believers I'm reminded of Tony Abbot's youthfull choices which hit the media a few years ago, have the sex but skip the condom. I don't know if the choice to not use a condom was religiously inspired or not but I got the impression that it was. Plenty of catholics have sex outside the bounds of marriage. Some appear to decide not to make the sin worse by using a condom.

Not a lot of sense toi it but when it comes to sex humans are not always at their most logical.

R0bert

W. Wheatley Wrote:

"The cause of its spread is engaging in sexual activity outside the boundaries of a monogamous marriage"

I wonder how the virus knows whether a [monogamous] couple is married?

R0bert,
>> Plenty of catholics have sex outside the bounds of marriage. Some appear to decide not to make the sin worse by using a condom.<<

Well, I certainly have never met a Catholic who would think the use of condom would make “fornication” a graver sin. What you probably mean is that carrying a condom in your pocket makes the “sinful act“ premeditated, rather than on the spur of the moment. Like when you stab a person it makes a difference in court whether you brought the knife with you, or just grabbed one lying next while losing control of yourself.

Robert - its been 10 years since I left Africa, but Shadow Minister is right: trying to apply our cultural norms in Africa is laughable. When I left there was certainly no difficulty about the availability of condoms: huge bowls of them were set out in chemist shops, workplaces, clinics - they were ubiquitous and anyone could pick up handfulls if they so wished.

The African women did so wish. But the African male considers them an insult to his manhood. No matter if a man was a professional or a laborer, in the bedroom he reigned supreme. One of the first things an African man tells you is how many children he has.

Until the time I left marital rape was not even recognised.

His sexual promiscuity - as seen by Western standards - and his children - from whatever source; and usually not supported by him in any way, shape or form - are his raison d'etre and define who he is. Which is also one of the reasons for the abject poverty in which many women and children live.

No matter what religious leaders and others would like to think, Western religions are ALWAYS underlaid by a person's...African-ness. I could give you pages of anecdotal evidence to support this and, no doubt, given time, references to many of theses, books and papers written about it.

And therein lies my own feelings about the Popes remarks: he has advisers, speech-makers, diplomatic experts and cultural advisers at his fingertips. Why was he so unprepared as to make such naive and downright silly public statements? Hell, surely the man himself has access to the Internet and could even have scouted out a bit of info for himself.

I don't want to make pronouncements on the Catholic religion per se: but the sheer stupidity of any world leader going there knowing so little that such a stupid blunder could be made beggars belief.More importantly, it undermines years and years of work pushing boulders uphill by those working against AIDS.

The Pope reportedly exerts a great deal of influence in Africa and he goes and wastes this valuable opportunity to do some real good.

The spread of AIDs is linked in some significant degree to RAPE, not condoms.

On his list of priorities of problems he must address, RAPE was not
placed higher than the use of condoms.

At least the use of condoms, though it might indicate some level of promiscuity, also implies some sense of social responsibility and consent.

If a major and influential religious leader doesn't act to condemn RAPE and to protect children (who are then infected with AIDS), who will.

<"The latest reports from the Medical Research Council, Medicins Sans Frontieres and the Treatment Action Campaign warn that most of the child-bearing age population of South Africa is now being infected with HIV-AIDS because of the rape epidemic. Rapists are seeking out increasingly younger victims, so even the smallest little girls now are getting HIV-infections from rapists.">

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/264771