The Religious Consultationon Population, Reproductive
Health and Ethics
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Denver Post (US), February 16, 2005 COLUMN: Catholics
and condoms In the 2004 elections, Coloradans heard calls by Catholic prelates on denying Holy Communion to politicians who refuse to condemn abortion. What many people don't know is, the church also forbids all condom use. Amazingly, the church hierarchy has claimed (erroneously) that condoms can't prevent HIV. As an African and a Catholic who's watched millions of people die from AIDS, I view the church's condom policy as regressive and unsympathetic. It fills me with great anguish. A spokesman for Spain's Conference of Catholic Bishops recently said, "Condoms have their place in a comprehensive and global prevention of AIDS." I was ecstatic. I welcomed the news that, at last, the church was emerging from the scientific darkness about HIV/AIDS that it has submerged itself in for so long. Alas, the moment of scientific lucidity lasted but a few hours. The Vatican quickly restated the church's doctrine: Condom use is prohibited since it's a form of birth control. Indeed, while the church advocates the first two legs of the ABC approach to AIDS prevention - Abstinence and Being faithful - it actively campaigns against the third, Condoms. Ignorance, stupidity, entrenched tribal customs and the stigma associated with HIV infection have been the root causes of Africa's enormous suffering from HIV/AIDS. Africans look up to Europeans (who ruled them for centuries) for knowledge and enlightenment. It's in this light that the Vatican's irrational condom position must be viewed. Sex and sin are part of the human condition. Surely, as sinful as we are, wouldn't it be wise to save our lives with condoms? Allowances should be necessary for the innocent wife whose husband has AIDS. Sinful or not, she should not have to contract HIV and die of AIDS. Catholic leaders in four continents have been preaching a patent falsehood that condoms don't protect against AIDS. HIV can pass through condom's micropores, they say. Whether this is done with malicious intent or results from genuine ignorance is unclear. It should, however, be vigorously opposed. The Spanish bishops' lauding the use of condoms to prevent AIDS required courage. Similarly, Brazilian bishops in 2000 broke with the Vatican, recommending condom use to check the spread of HIV/AIDS. Unlike the Vatican, whose objective and vision is always heavenwards, for Brazilians the problem of HIV was local; they sought local, earthbound solutions. Faced with the church's misinformation, Catholic leadership in Africa has been silent. It's shameful that on the continent most under siege from HIV, where generations have died from AIDS, the flocks' shepherds should be blind to the death around them. The church has undone what many health organizations have been doing to combat AIDS. When it's sexually transmitted, AIDS can only be fought by abstinence or condom use. The church hobbles health-care givers by blinding the already confused Africans, contributing to AIDS deaths in Africa. Is the church more interested in its outdated rules and doctrines than in the well-being of the black race? Does the church forget that God's children must survive for their sins to be forgiven? In the politics of abortion and the use of condoms in Africa, the church insinuates its authority in matters of survival and personal conscience. When the keepers of our faith don't care for our physical well-being, we must wonder about their relevance. Surely the question for the future is: Does Africa need the Catholic Church? Pius Kamau of Aurora is a thoracic and general surgeon. He was born and raised in Kenya and immigrated to the U.S. in 1971. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays. << Denver Post -- 2/16/05 >>
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