AIDS cannot be solved by "advertising slogans" or with condoms that "risk worsening the problem" but by a twofold response based on assisting the suffering and spiritual renewal, Pope Benedict told journalists as he began his visit to Africa. Catholic News Agency reports the international media played host to a raft of experts railing against Pope Benedict's brief words on the use of condoms in the fight against AIDS.
However, the incident was the result of the Pope's words being pulled from his defence of the Church's personalistic approach to the AIDS crisis.
In the full transcript of the exchange a journalist from French state TV asked Pope Benedict:
"Holy Father among the many evils that affect Africa there is also the particular problem of the the spread of AIDS. The position of the Catholic Church for fighting this evil is frequently considered unrealistic and ineffective.
"Will you address this issue during your trip? Holy Father, could you please respond in French to this question?" he asked.
Although the Pope responded to a previous question from the French newspaper La Croix in French, he gave the following answer in Italian, CNA says.
"I would say the opposite."
"It is my belief that the most effective presence on the front in the battle against HIV/AIDS is precisely the Catholic Church and her institutions. I think of the Community of Sant' Egidio, which does so much, visibly and invisibly to fight AIDS, of the Camillians, of all the nuns that are at the service of the sick.
"I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome with advertising slogans. If the soul is lacking, if Africans do not help one another, the scourge cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem. The solution can only come through a twofold commitment: firstly, the humanisation of sexuality, in other words a spiritual and human renewal bringing a new way of behaving towards one another; and secondly, true friendship, above all with those who are suffering, a readiness - even through personal sacrifice - to be present with those who suffer. And these are the factors that help and bring visible progress.
"Therefore, I would say that our double effort is to renew the human person internally, to give spiritual and human strength to a way of behaving that is just towards our own body and the other person's body; and this capacity of suffering with those who suffer, to remain present in trying situations.
"I believe that this is the first response [to AIDS] and that this is what the Church does, and thus, she offers a great and important contribution. And we are grateful to those that do this."
Meanwhile, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said told journalists that "you mustn't expect that this trip will change the position of the Catholic Church towards the problem of AIDS," Africasia reports.
The Church believed that "to develop an ideology of confidence in the condom is not a correct position" because it failed to emphasise "a sense of responsibility," the Vatican spokesman said.
The 81 year-old pontiff "put the emphasis on education and responsibility" when he commented on the use of condoms to combat AIDS, said Lombardi.
Church doctrine opposes the use of contraceptives, including the use of condoms as an effective barrier to HIV/AIDS.
Lombardi said the Church had a three pronged response to the scourge of AIDS, "the education and responsibility of sexuality and the affirmation of the values of marriage and the family, commitment to effective treatment, and the attention given to the sick."
The controversy over the Pope's remarks threatened to overshadow other statements in which he condemned graft and abuse of power in Africa.
"In the face of violence, corruption and abuse of power, the church can never remain silent," Pope Benedict told a crowd of more than 5,000 people at Cameroon's Nsimalen International Airport late yesterday, Bloomberg reports.
The message, he said, must be proclaimed loud and clear.
Speaking to reporters on the plane, the Pope also said the economic crisis was a product of a "deficit of ethics in economic structures", the National Post says.
"Ethics is something that should not be outside economics, but inside it. The economy does not work if it does not carry an ethical component inside itself," he said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: CTHN)