The Holy Father paid an official state and pastoral visit to two African nations on the west coast of the African continent in March — Cameroon and Angola. Cameroon has 4.7 million Catholics (27 percent of the population of the country) and Angola, 8.3 million Catholics (56 percent of the population). It is said that Angola is the fastest growing Catholic community in the world. The Holy Father’s visit was to acknowledge the work of the Catholic people and to encourage them.
But something happened on the way to the African forum. Reporters accompanied the pope on the plane trip from Rome and interviewed him en route. One of the reporters asked about the Catholic Church’s views on condoms and AIDS in Africa. And the pontiff gave the answer that Pope John Paul II gave frequently and which Catholic bishops and catechists have repeated many times over. The pope said: “The scourge of AIDS cannot be resolved by distributing condoms; quite the contrary, we risk worsening the problem.”
And those words released a firestorm of protest from secular political and scientific leaders. A Dutch Development Minister said that the pope’s words were “extraordinarily harmful and serious.” France’s Foreign Minister opined that the words “put in danger public health policies and the imperative of protecting human life.” Germany’s health minister said that it would be “irresponsible” to deny the poor the use of condoms. The editors of the English medical journal Lancet wrote that the pope “publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine.” Across the world articles, editorials, essays, Letters to the Editor, etc. all berated the pope. The policy of Western nations has been for years that condom distribution is the answer to the AIDS crisis and other sexual-social problems of Africa. Pope Benedict XVI denies this.
The pope’s words were a prudent judgment of the reality. No use of condoms is 100 percent effective. Even the most sanguine promoters admit that condoms are at least a failure 10 percent of the time. Others say 30 percent or 40 percent. By encouraging condom use as the way of safe sex and prevention of AIDS, increasing numbers of sexual encounters occur, people feeling that they are “safe.” And the more sexual encounters that occur, the more cases of AIDS result, due to the failure rates of the condoms.
The answer to the problem is abstinence before marriage and fidelity to one’s spouse in marriage. Apparently, the promoters of contraception do not believe that people are capable of practicing chastity, either before or after marriage.
It is to be noted that many people came to the defense of the Holy Father. Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Saar, archbishop of Dakar, spoke out: “If they start to distribute condoms massively to our young people, this will not help them and it will be very much more difficult for them to control themselves and to remain faithful until marriage.” He added: “I don’t think condoms can eradicate AIDS.” A group of healthcare workers in Uganda declared: “We are social and health workers committed to face AIDS … Our experience indicates what the pope said is realistic, reasonable and scientifically sound.” The bishops of Cameroon issued a declaration: “The bishops of Cameroon are astonished by what the journalists took from the statement of the pope. … The church has the imperative duty to remind Christians that all disordered sexual practice is dangerous and favors the spread of AIDS.”
St. Louis journalist and author, Colleen Carroll Cambell, cited the research of Edward Green, a director of the Harvard AIDS Prevention Research project: “In every African country in which HIV infections have declined, this decline has been associated with a decrease in the proportion of men and women reporting more than one sex partner.” And Green added: the only other behavior associated with a drop in HIV rates is “a decline in premarital sex among young people.” In other words the best way to prevent AIDS is abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage. Uganda is often cited as an example. Because of abstinence and fidelity promotion, the incidence of AIDS in Uganda since 1991 has gone from 21 percent of the population to 6 percent. Another example is the Philippines, where 85 percent of the population is Catholic and where there is no focus on condoms. While many countries of Southeast Asia have seen a dramatic rise in AIDS, the rate in the Philippines is around 1 percent.
It is unfortunate that so many newspapers gave space to the one sentence of the pope on his way to Africa and ignored his talks and efforts while he was in Cameroon and Angola. Enemies of the pope lurk in many places of prominence and will use any occasion to vilify him and the church. We should never let them get away without a challenge.
Father John A. Leies, SM, STD, is president emeritus of St. Mary’s University and was formerly head of the Theology Department there.