Pope Benedict XVI is a Global Health Nightmare

by Michael Jones · 2009-03-18 05:54:00 UTC
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Pope Benedict XVI

As the world leader of the Catholic Church gets ready to make his first trip to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI has said something so stupid that the only end result is going to be the needless death of many, many people.

Speaking about HIV/AIDS, Pope Benedict XVI said "AIDS is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems."

Condoms aggravate the problem of HIV/AIDS?

No.  Clueless religious leaders who preach religion and call it science aggravate the problems of HIV/AIDS.  Pope Benedict XVI's statement is dangerous, and puts the Catholic Church so out of touch with the reality of HIV/AIDS, they might as well be operating on a different planet.  More than 25 million people in Africa have HIV/AIDS. Yesterday we wrote about our own country, where reports now say that Washington, DC has a higher HIV/AIDS rate than all of West Africa.

For the Pope to say that condoms aggravate the problems of HIV/AIDS is sillier than calling the world flat.  As Rebecca Hodes from the Treatment Action Campaign said, "[Pope Benedict XVI's] opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans."

This Pope deserves to isolated on the global scene.  The Catholic Church has become one of the most irresponsible institutions on the international scene under his watch, siding with countries like Sudan and Iran when it comes to imprisoning or executing LGBT people, and now flagrantly saying that condoms spread HIV.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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