Vatican newspaper says experience supports pope's comments on condoms

"RENEWING THE AMERICAN DREAM"


By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's newspaper said experience supports Pope Benedict XVI's comment that the distribution of condoms does not solve the problem of AIDS.

The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, ran a front-page commentary that defended the pope against the storm of criticism that followed his remarks in mid-March as he prepared to visit Africa.

The idea that condom distribution can arrest the spread of the virus in Africa is an "ideological falsehood," said the commentary. Published March 22, it was written by Lucetta Scaraffia, a journalist and history professor who is a member of the Italian National Bioethics Committee.

Scaraffia said World Health Organization studies show that the most effective anti-AIDS campaigns in Africa have been based on efforts to promote abstinence and fidelity in sexual relations.

She said this fact has been quietly accepted in the scientific community, but that the "legend" continues about condoms saving Africa from AIDS.

Part of the reason is economic, she said. Another factor, she said, is that Western culture does not want to give up what is considered an important advance: "purely hedonistic and recreational sex."

"The condom is exalted beyond its real capability to stop AIDS because it allows modern society to continue to believe in itself and its principles, and because it seems to re-establish control of the situation without changing anything," she wrote.

The false sense of security condoms give can itself become a risk factor in the spread of AIDS, she said. She noted that when allowing for the "typical" use of condoms their effective protection against AIDS drops to 87 percent.

A related article in the newspaper detailed the experience in Uganda, which has adopted an anti-AIDS program called "ABC" -- "abstain, be faithful or use a condom." The Ugandan program has been so successful, the article said, because it relies first on promoting responsible sexual behavior and sees condom use as a last resort.

The article quoted Brother Daniele Giusti, a Comboni missionary who has worked as a doctor in Uganda for 30 years, as saying the condom has proven somewhat effective among particular groups like prostitutes, homosexuals and drug addicts, but not in the wider population.

"To say that the condom is the winning strategy in a full-blown epidemic that has spread among the general population is misleading," he said.

The rate of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has dropped in Uganda from about 15 percent to about 5 percent of the population over the last 15 years. For that reason, Uganda is often held up as a model for other African countries.

"Whoever says these results were obtained by using condoms is telling a lie. Experience in the field shows the opposite," Brother Giusti said.

"The main factor of this success (in Uganda) is education and a change in behavior," he said. He said Ugandan young people are engaging in initial sexual activity at a later age, and the number of sexual partners reported by men and women has been reduced.

Even international agencies are now recognizing the effectiveness of campaigns based on sexual responsibility, and are changing strategies, he said.

The pope was asked about condoms in AIDS prevention by reporters aboard his flight to Cameroon March 17. After highlighting the church's efforts to help AIDS victims, the pope said: "One cannot overcome the problem with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem."

"The solution can only be a double one: first, a humanization of sexuality, that is, a spiritual human renewal that brings with it a new way of behaving with one another; second, a true friendship especially with those who suffer, and a willingness to make personal sacrifices and to be with the suffering. And these are factors that help and that result in real and visible progress," he said.