ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – Pope Benedict XVI said on his way to
Africa today that condoms were not the answer in the continent's fight
against HIV. It was his first explicit statement on an issue that has
divided even clergy working with AIDS patients.Benedict had
never directly addressed condom use. He has said that the Roman
Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The
Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease."You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the pope told
reporters aboard the
Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon, where
he will begin a seven-day pilgrimage on the continent. "On the
contrary, it increases the problem.''Some priests and nuns
working with those living with HIV/AIDS question the church's
opposition to condoms amid the pandemic ravaging Africa.Benedict's first papal trip to Africa will take him to Cameroon and
Angola. Africa is the fastest-growing region for the Roman Catholic
Church, though it competes with Islam and evangelical churches.The pope also said today that he intends to make an appeal for
"international solidarity" for Africa in the face of the global
economic downturn.He said that while the church does not propose specific economic solutions, it can give "spiritual and moral" suggestions.Describing the current crisis as the consequence of "a deficit of
ethics in economic structures," the pope said, "It is here that the
church can make a contribution."On the plane, Benedict also
dismissed the notion that he was facing increasing opposition and
isolation within the church, particularly after an outreach to
ultraconservatives that led to his lifting the excommunication of a
Holocaust-denying bishop."The myth of my solitude makes me
laugh," the pope said, adding that he can count on a network of friends
and aides whom he sees every day.In a letter to Catholic
bishops released last week, the pope made an unusual public
acknowledgment of Vatican mistakes and turmoil in his church over the
rehabilitation of Bishop Richard Williamson.While acknowledging
mistakes were made in handling the affair, Benedict said he was
saddened that he was criticized "with open hostility" even by those who
should have known better. SOURCE:THE STAR