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Catholicism vs. Condom Use in Africa- Counter-Productive?

A number of news sources followed Pope Benedict XVI's visit in March to Cameroon and Angola, but only some reported on comments he made concerning the use of condoms to combat the spread of AIDS. Referring to the AIDS crisis, the Pope said that it is "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems."

Hold on a minute... it's kind of obvious that Catholicism promotes abstinence rather than the use of birth control, but to say that condom use actually exacerbates the AIDS epidemic reveals some issues that arise when sub-Saharan Africa, where 22 million are infected with HIV (2008 UNAIDS/WHO report) collides with Africa’s fast-growing Catholic population, which as of 2006 was 17% (Source BBC).

To me, it's kind of worrying that political (Thabo Mbeki, past president of South Africa, casts doubt on the link between HIV and AIDS) as well as religious leaders are going down this path. Condoms aren't the be all and end all of tools to fight AIDS - education, monogamy, the empowerment of women, and greater access to antiretroviral drugs are other proven successful ways.

But when you're given the statistic that condom use cuts the chance of HIV infection by 90 per cent, it's hard to toss out the latex. Abstinence and fidelity are effective too-but are even better with a full complement of other methods.

The mixed signals are not helping the fight.