Speaking to the mothers and fathers present, the Pontiff asked, “Do you accept that [God] is counting on you to pass on to your children the human and spiritual values that you yourselves have received and which will prepare them to live with love and respect for his holy name?”
“You must be very careful,” he warned. “Africa in general, and Cameroon in particular, place themselves at risk if they do not recognize the True Author of Life!
“Brothers and sisters in Cameroon and throughout Africa, you who have received from God so many human virtues, take care of your souls!”
“Do not let yourselves be captivated by selfish illusions and false ideals,” he continued. “Believe — yes! — continue to believe in God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — he alone truly loves you in the way you yearn to be loved, he alone can satisfy you, can bring stability to your lives. Only Christ is the way of Life.”
The liberals are trying to make hay of the Pope’s comment about condoms, “impeach the Pope”, etc. Sadly, Ruth Gledhill is jumping on this bandwagon. The reformed Pastor has [url=http://reformedpastor.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/the-pope-the-press-and-african-aids/ ]good blog entry[/url] on this. In particular, he has this quote:
[blockquote] “The pope is correct, or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments….[C]ondoms have been proven to not be effective at the ‘level of population.’â€
“There is a consistent association shown by our best studies, including the U.S.-funded ‘Demographic Health Surveys,’ between greater availability and use of condoms and higher (not lower) HIV-infection rates. This may be due in part to a phenomenon known as risk compensation, meaning that when one uses a risk-reduction ‘technology’ such as condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) by ‘compensating’ or taking greater chances than one would take without the risk-reduction technology.â€[/blockquote]
(from the “biased” source, Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.
Robroy:
The Orthodox Russian Patriarchate is supporting the Pope:
http://www.egliserusse.eu/Le-patriarcat-de-Moscou-est-solidaire-avec-la-position-du-pape-Benoit-XVI-sur-les-moyens-de-lutte-avec-le-SIDA_a716.html
Antonio, I got the gist of that post but I am not at all fluent in French any possibility of a translation?
Translation: The Moscow Patriarchate is in solidarity with the position of Pope Benedict XV regarding how to combat AIDS and the fact that condoms cannot be considered as a remedy against that illness.
‘It is false to consider condoms as a method of checking the propagation of AIDS,’ declared, on the 20th March, Archpriest Vsevolod Tchapline, vice-president of the department of exterior relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. He was commenting on the polemic aroused by the statement made by the pope on his journey to Africa. According to Fr Tchapline, it is not exterior methods of contraception which are able to reduce the spread of AIDS, but a fair education and a right way of living.
‘If a person leads a sinful life, or is debauched by drugs, and has neither sense nor moderation in his life, s/he will die in this way of one illness or another. No condom and no medication will be able to save them.’ According to Fr Tchapine, ‘the spread of AIDS can only be stopped by an ethical education of the population concerned, and not by resorting to condoms.’
Thank you very much. Terry Tee